Countless Lifetimes
by apples-a-day
Summary: Swan Queen one-shot drabbles collection. Drabble 4: Regina really didn't want to be at this Halloween party. But her friend had dared her, and Regina never backed down for a dare. The fact that Regina was absolutely terrified of horror monsters didn't really help her as she made her way around the party.
1. Neighbours

**Okay!**

**So I've decided that I'm going to open up drabble requests, mainly because I love writing and inspiration!**

**How is this going to work? Well I'll basically be writing drabbles based on prompts submitted by YOU or if I get a plot bunny that I don't want to turn into a full story. They'll vary in length, all of them will be one-shots, so don't expect them to ever be continued. That means that all stories will have an ending. Some of them more open than others, but I won't leave it with a cliffhanger like in the middle of revealing the murderer or something.**

**Granted that my imagination runs wild enough, some prompts might be upgraded to a full story, but don't hold your breath.**

**How can you submit prompts? Just leave a review! Or you can send me a PM, or send me an ask on my tumblr: keepapplesaday [link is on profile] and I'll write it once I get a plot formed!**

**In terms of the type of stories, it can totally vary. Some of them might be sappy and comedic, others more dramatic or sad, it really depends. All of them will be romantic in nature, so what would vary would be the secondary genre. **

**I have an idea for a drabble which is what inspired this whole idea, but it's on the sadder side, and I didn't want to open up with that. Meaning this one will be more light-hearted yaaaaay!**

**There are a couple of things I am against doing, which includes heavy violence and gore, as well as M rated shenanigans. If any submissions include that they will not be counted or written.**

**Every drabble will be with Swan Queen [kinda obvious but I just feel the need to be really explicit just in case] and might feature other ships or whatnot. At the beginning of each chapter I'll have the title, a summary and any warnings if needed and notes.**

**If anyone has any questions just let me know and ask!**

* * *

**Neighbours**

_Comedy_

**Summary:** Emma Swan considers her insufferable next door neighbour to be the bane of her existence. But when said neighbour is drunk off her ass and somehow ends up at her door, they both end up with a lot more than they bargained for.

**Prompted by:** yours truly!

**Warnings/Notes:** None really, unless anyone gets queasy with Regina being drunk? Though I suppose later on there's brief mentions of wounds and blood, just fyi. Also my knowledge of inebriation facts is a bit shaky considering my lack of experience with drinking, so forgive me if something is inaccurate.

Also this got a bit out of hand and long. Like more than 12,000 words long. Which means this technically isn't really a drabble, but oh well.

* * *

Emma Swan could only describe her life as sad. Here she was on a Friday night and all she was planning on doing was binge watching Netflix with only a beer bottle as company.

It wasn't that Emma didn't have any friends. But she could hardly ask Mary Margaret to drop her newborn son - not literally of course - and have a wild night out with her. David was in the same boat, being Mary Margaret's husband and father of the child. Lacey might've gone for it, but ever since she had started to date the creepy guy Gold, she couldn't have one night out without the guy clinging to his girlfriend like a lovesick puppy. Well maybe puppy wasn't the right word, puppies were cute and the pawnshop owner with the eerie smirk did not qualify for that. More like a lovesick ball of mucus.

So that's how Emma ended up sitting in her pajamas, getting comfy on her old couch, and ready to start watching a new show that Lacey recommended to her; it was supposedly funny, and the blonde definitely needed some entertainment to cure her boredom.

But clearly the universe had other plans for her.

Someone was thumping on her door. But it wasn't a rhythmic knock to try to draw attention that someone was here. This sounded more like someone shoved against it, and was currently trying to force the door. Just great: a robber. Emma sighed, of course there was going to be something like this. When she had hoped for a bit of entertainment to liven up the dull Friday night, she hadn't expected self-defence and a thief to be a part of it.

She went near the door, getting her gun out of the entranceway table's drawer. Making sure the safety was off, Emma subtly made her way closer. She could barely make out some sort of mumble coming through the door. Clearly this guy was no expert, who made this amount of ruckus when trying to break into an apartment? An occupied apartment at that. Amateur.

The blonde just took a deep breath, and unlocked the door. She didn't open it, she waited until the thief would try to force the door open again, and once they tumbled in disoriented, she'd pounce.

Everything was going according to plan. A thump was heard as the thief on the other side of the door tried again, turning the knob. They crashed inside with a yelp and a string of curses, but Emma was frozen as she recognized the figure that stumbled in.

"Regina?" What the hell was her next door neighbour doing trying to break into her home? Especially in that heart-stopping dress. It made the blonde's mind wander to places she didn't want to visit with Regina as the subject.

The brunette didn't respond, instead focusing on standing up, but it was not an easy feat. She kept on fumbling and collapsing. Something was off with the usually composed and cold woman, and Emma couldn't quite place a finger on it. In fact, the blonde was so puzzled by the appearance of her neighbour, she was still standing slack-jawed, gun in her hands - though no longer pointed at her neighbour - and hadn't even attempted to make a move to help the bumbling woman.

"What the hell are you doing in my apartment Ms. Swan?" It was then, hearing the slurred words come from Regina, and noticing the faraway glazed look, that Emma realized that the older woman was completely drunk.

"Not sure how to break it to you Regina, but you're in _my_ apartment." Emma couldn't resist smirking as she backed a few paces and replaced the gun in the drawer where she kept it.

"Nonsense, this is my place and you're breaking in!"

"I beg to differ, look around and tell me that you actually live here."

The brunette was clearly still as hard headed drunk as she was sober, pushing past the blonde to look inside the place. However the usual bravado was lost with how tipsy she was. "Well shit."

"Now, what say you go and get into your own home. I'll even lead you to it." She was _so_ going to use this as blackmail material. Nothing would stop her.

It wasn't as if Regina herself didn't make snide comments about the blonde every unfortunate time they crossed paths. The two had been on each other's nerves ever since Regina had moved in. Granted that perhaps Emma had made a bit of fool of herself, but she had been brain dead, and there was no reason for the scathing response she got from the brunette. Ever since then the two traded barbs and made sufficient noise to annoy the other, even getting complaints from other tenants around the vicinity. Emma's weapon of choice was loud music, while Regina's was hammering. Either the brunette's apartment doubled as an art gallery, or she was trying to recreate IKEA. Between the noise and the banter, it was a nonstop war that had no end in sight.

"Can't." Emma was puzzled. The brunette hadn't made an effort to go back to the door, and was now awkwardly standing by the kitchen. Emma had half a mind to drag the brunette out of her home, even if she was kicking and screaming.

"And why not?"

"Key is stuck."

"What?" Emma turned back to the still open doorway and saw that indeed a key was sticking out of the keyhole. She marched to the door and tried to pry the key out. Just like Regina had said, it was stuck. It wouldn't budge one way or the other. Just great. "And I don't suppose you have a spare key with you?"

"No Ms. Swan, I don't." Emma was sure that was supposed to sound condescending, but Regina right now sounded like she was learning to speak for the first time, which bordered between adorable and hilarious.

"Just great. Looks like you'll be staying the night then. Too bad the place smells like a pigsty right?" Of course she couldn't resist throwing back the brunette's words at her. It'd serve her right for the rude remarks made in the past.

"I refuse to stay here."

"And where, pray tell, do you plan on going? Camp out in front of your door?"

"Anything is better than here." Regina's grimace pushed Emma's last button.

"Seriously? You'd rather risk getting groped by Jones than swallowing your pride and staying here?" It was well known that one of the tenants down the hall, Killian Jones, was a bit handsy. He specifically had a thing with Emma, a thought that made her gag, but he would take any woman that would have him, just to prove his sexual prowess.

"Fair point."

So Emma closed and locked the door behind her before making her way to the kitchen where the drunk woman was slowly swaying. Fuck, how could she look so gorgeous and be such a bitch was something Emma could never wrap her mind around. "Okay why don't you go sit down before you get yourself sick?"

The brunette didn't even attempt to counter the suggestion, and wordlessly plopped down on the couch in the living room, where Emma had been sitting on a while ago. For her part, Emma grabbed a cup from the cabinet and filled it with water, taking it with her to go sit beside the brunette. No way was she going to add kindle to the fire and make Regina more drunk than she already was. She might find the woman grating, but she was a decent human being first and foremost, and if they were inebriated, Emma would help. It was probably the cop in her.

"Alright, here you go. If you feel sleepy then just let me know and I'll move so you can sleep here." Emma didn't have a second bed, so the only option for Regina was the couch they were currently occupying, but since the night was still young for Emma, she wanted to get started on the TV show, Regina would have to deal with it.

"I'm fine, Ms. Swan." The bleary eyes the brunette sported told otherwise, but Emma wasn't about to argue.

"Whatever you say, hope you don't mind, I still want to enjoy my Friday night." Emma left the last part just for the sake of their usual banter, but it had none of the bite she usually used.

The brunette didn't reply, instead just stared at the TV screen. So Emma pressed play and tried to focus on the show, rather than the gorgeous woman beside her.

Three hours later and Emma was hooked. Damn, she had to make a mental note to text Lacey and thank her for the recommendation.

Emma suddenly tensed as she felt a hand on her thigh. Turning ever so slowly, she saw Regina staring at her, the show completely forgotten. But it wasn't the usual glare she was sporting. No this almost looked like...bedroom eyes? Could Regina Mills actually be attracted to her? The thought made Emma's heart skip a beat. Then it sunk within the next second as she remembered that Regina was completely drunk, working the alcohol out of her system, so she wasn't in her right mind.

That fact was further accentuated as she felt hands on her cheeks, and suddenly, lips were pressed against hers. Emma was torn; she wanted to stop this, it didn't feel right to take advantage of the situation no matter how much she ached for it, but Emma just wanted to savour this for a few seconds. Even though the two women never managed to have a civil conversation, Emma had often wondered if they could ever reconcile and become friends, or even something more. But now was not the time to fantasize and daydream.

With a pang of regret, Emma put her hands on the brunette's shoulders and pushed her back gently. As soon as their lips parted, Emma wished nothing more that they would reattach once more. "You're going to regret this in the morning."

"I don't care." Emma saw that Regina looked almost heartbroken at having the kiss broken, but the blonde just kept repeating a mantra in her head: 'she's drunk, she's drunk, she's drunk'.

"I'm pretty sure you won't buy that as a reason tomorrow."

And once more, Regina repeated, "I don't care," and rushed to kiss Emma again.

Oh god why did this feel so right and so wrong at the same time? The blonde used all of her willpower to push Regina far enough back. "I'm sorry, I really don't want to take advantage of this."

"Well what do you know, chivalry isn't dead after all." Regina smirked, but it was a playful smirk, Emma was happy to note.

"Just doing my duty as a decent person."

They fell silent then, turning their attention back to the TV. Or at least that's what Emma tried to do. She still had fireworks going off in her head at the thought that Regina Mills had actually kissed her.

Half an hour later both women were asleep on the couch. Emma was using the couch's arm as a pillow, while Regina used Emma as her pillow, arms encircling around her waist, head at the crook of her neck.

* * *

**10 months ago**

"Hey Bobby, how's it going?" Emma flashed a smile at the concierge, coming in from her shift at the station. She was tired and ready to drop dead to the world, but she could spare a few pleasantries for the new concierge. He was actually pretty friendly, and Emma always liked chatting with him when he was in.

"Pretty good." He smiled at her in return, and just as Emma was heading towards the elevator, he remembered something. "Oh did you hear, your new neighbour moved in!"

'Really? I'll have to go say hi to them then!" Emma had been out trying to crack open a case for the past two days, practically sleeping at the station and living on caffeine while she and David put the puzzle pieces together to solve the conundrum that had been plaguing them for months now. This was the first time she was coming home in those two days, so she was a bit out of the loop.

Bobby thought about perhaps warning Emma regarding the new neighbour's foul mood, but decided against it. Who was he to meddle in the affairs of the tenants, and perhaps the other woman was maybe just having a bad day and would actually turn out to be friendly. Plus if there was anyone who could make everyone smile, it was Emma Swan.

Meanwhile, Emma waved bye to Bobby and got into the elevator, pressing the button for the tenth floor. She fiddled with her keys as she finally arrived at her destination. She looked towards number 108, and then glanced down at herself. She looked presentable, though perhaps wearing two-days old clothes didn't serve as a good first impression, but Emma knew that the minute she went inside her house, she wasn't going to be coming out for the rest of the day. Plus she had to go in tomorrow to work at the crack of dawn, and she was sure her neighbour would _not_ appreciate getting woken up at 5 am just to meet her. If she waited any longer Emma might seem like a recluse. So she took a deep breath, pocketed her keys, and went over next door, knocking twice.

It didn't take long for the door to open, and Emma was floored. The gorgeous brunette who opened the door took her breath away; Emma felt like she was in her own romcom movie. She didn't even notice that the confused frown the brunette had originally been sporting had upgraded into a glare. "May I help you?"

"I-uh...yeah! You can." Great, now Emma had forgotten to speak.

"Are you going to enlighten me anytime soon or am I going to have to play the guessing game? I assure you I am not in the mood for childish antics, so if this is a prank-"

"Emma Swan." So much for a good first impression, now she had interrupted the other woman with blurting out her name.

"I beg your pardon?"

"My name is Emma Swan."

"And why would I care for your name?" The brunette sounded bored with the situation, ready to shut the door on the idiotic blonde's face.

Emma frowned, talk about snippy. Suddenly the lovey dovey haze was gone and Emma could think again. "Because I'm your new neighbour." She held out her hand, hoping to salvage something out of this train wreck.

What she received was a door slammed in her face.

* * *

**Present Day**

Regina frowned as she slowly woke up, her bed feeling very different than it usually did. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, but as she stretched, it was almost as if her bed was breathing and moving beneath her? She hoped and prayed that she hadn't brought someone back with her. She'd kill Kathryn for conning her into the party last night. She cracked an eye open and immediately yelled.

Emma Swan for her part, had been happily sleeping until she felt someone moving above her, gently stirring. She shifted a bit, getting a bit ticklish. Until the scream.

The bloodcurdling scream that had Emma yelping and falling to the floor as she saw Regina Mills scramble off from on top of her, her face pale and eyes wide, though she was sure she was mirroring the brunette.

"Motherfucker! Give a woman a little bit of a warning next time you want to give them a heart attack as a wakeup call why don't you?" Emma rubbed her sore body from where she landed on the carpet.

"Ms. Swan!" Regina was flabbergasted, still on the sofa sitting on her heels, glaring at the woman groaning on the floor.

"Regina!" Emma responded with equal ferocity, and glared right back at the brunette.

"What the hell is the meaning of this?" Regina didn't even want to deal with the massive hangover she had, instead focusing on how exactly she had wound up here. Last thing she remembered was getting dropped off by a cab in front of her apartment, drunkenly going up the elevator to her floor and then...

"Seriously? You don't remember nearly bowling through my door and insisting I was breaking into my own home? Or perhaps breaking my keyhole by jamming your own key in it?" Emma deadpanned.

Regina stayed silent. It was coming back to her a bit, though her massive migraine wasn't helping. She squinted her eyes shut and massaged her temple as she tried to focus.

Emma didn't say another word as she stood up and walked off somewhere, but Regina stayed glued to her position, hands on her thighs as she tried to keep her hangover at bay and piece together what exactly happened that resulted in her sleeping on top of Emma Swan.

A few minutes later, Regina still had her eyes squeezed shut as she felt Emma return. "Here." She opened her eyes and looked to the side. Emma was holding out two tablets of aspirin and a glass of water.

She took them and downed both. Regina figured she should at least play nice with the woman who, despite their rivalry, still let her stay the night. "Thank you."

"'Welcome." Emma flopped down on the couch, looking much like a ragdoll with her limbs resting anywhere.

Suddenly someone knocked on the door, a bit of urgency to the sound. "Everything alright there lass?"

Just what she needed to cap off a wonderful start to her morning, Killian Jones. "Yeah!" She yelled back, not even bothering to get up.

Regina winced a bit at the volume, but respected that, considering the man on the other side of the door was an ass, Emma had no desire to interact with Jones face to face.

"What was that scream? And why is your key in your door?" It was clear then that Jones had tried to open the door and noticed what was wrong when he failed to budge the key or the door. "Oh."

Emma wasn't sure if she wanted to scoff at the stupidity of the man, or get him arrested for attempting to get into her home. "It's a long story. And I'm housing a banshee and she woke up cranky."

"I see. Well...good day Swan." Clearly Jones left on an uncomfortable note, probably assuming that the banshee was probably a date, and a female at that.

Emma wasn't shy about her sexuality, and she had told Jones a number of times that she wasn't into guys. She hoped this was the nail in the coffin for him to leave well enough alone.

"Seriously? A banshee?" Regina was not amused.

"Yes, seriously, though I'm pretty sure your scream must've woken the dead." Emma snarked right back. "You know what, I'm going to make coffee because I refuse to deal with this shit without caffeine."

Regina just stared as Emma got up and went over to the kitchen to make them said coffee. "Do you take anything on yours?"

"No."

A few minutes later and Emma was holding out a cup of steaming coffee for her. She looked up to thank the woman once again, and noticed that Emma had some red around her lips... a very familiar shade of red. Oh no, she didn't.

Emma frowned as the brunette suddenly froze, hand stretched out to take the coffee, a look of shock on her face as she looked at her. "Do I have something on my face?"

Regina meekly nodded. "Yes, on your lips."

Emma put two and two together. "Oh yeah, you kissed me, twice. I tried to get you to back off since you were kinda punch drunk, but your motto last night was 'I don't care'."

Regina looked about ready to have an aneurysm.

"Don't worry though, nothing happened. Then I guess we fell asleep and ended up sleeping on the couch together." Emma saw Regina visibly relax, taking the coffee without another word.

After a few minutes of silence while both women sipped their drinks, Regina finally said, "Thank you."

Emma nodded slowly, responding with "Like I said last night, just doing the decent human being thing."

A few more minutes of silence passed, and Regina felt like she needed to say something. She felt bad knowing she had basically invaded the blonde's home just because of a mistake. But nothing sounded sincere.

"Well, I'm going to call Bobby to see if he can get in touch with someone who can fix this so you can go back to your home and I can continue my life." Emma didn't mean for it to sound harsh, but she really wasn't a morning person, and being up at barely 9 am on a Saturday morning was practically a crime in her books.

Of course, Regina didn't know that, assuming with a pang that Emma couldn't wait to kick her out of her home. Understandable though, it wasn't as though they were best friends, and from the little she remembered and what Emma told her, Regina hadn't been the best unintentional house guest last night.

"Hey Bobby."

Emma was over on the intercom with the concierge, and it was clear that the man had just arrived and was not fully awake. "Hey Emma, isn't it a bit early for you?"

"Yeah I know it's early. Listen I have a bit of a situation here. My _delightful_ neighbour accidentally tried to get into my apartment last night, and her key got stuck. Could you see about getting someone here to pry that key out so we can go back to our lives?"

"Oooh." Guessing by the sarcasm she laced onto the explanation, and the subsequent answer, Regina knew that Bobby was well aware which neighbour was currently locked out of her apartment. "Yeah I'll get right on that Emma."

"Thanks Bobby, keep me posted."

Regina watched as Emma sauntered back to the couch, and collapsed once again into it. She had to say something. "I'm sorry."

The blonde looked quizzically at the brunette. "For what?"

"For disrupting your night yesterday, and damaging your door and yelling at you and coming on to you." Regina wasn't sure where the word-vomit was coming from but it didn't look like it was going to stop yet. Perhaps this was an after-effect of all the drinks she had last night. "And for this morning and screaming and making you fall."

Clearly Emma hadn't expected such a sincere comment from Regina. Truth was she wasn't sure how to react. "Oh...it's okay, really!"

"No, Ms. Swan, it's not. You want me out of your apartment as soon as possible, and it's apparent."

Emma was flabbergasted. "What? I just assumed _you_ wanted to get out of here as fast as you could, considering you and I never really got along. I'm down with continuing this bonding session. Plus I'm not exactly a morning person, so my social skills don't kick in until a couple of hours later."

Regina fell silent. She went back to sipping her coffee, wondering if the awkwardness would dissipate before she had to return to her home. But how does someone strike up conversation with the woman that she had spent the last 10 months antagonizing?

"So." It seemed like Emma was going to take the first shot. "Is this the real Regina or are you still too far into a hangover to be your usual snarky and frigid self?"

The brunette could've bet that Emma had plenty of stronger choice words to describe her, but she was thankful they weren't voiced, even if it felt a bit like the woman was trying to be pacific for the sake of peace. "What do you mean?"

"Well y'know, you're usually not exactly the friendly type and we have spent the past... what nearly a year now?, arguing and raising hell on each other, but this Regina is nice... I like it." Emma wasn't sure where the last part came from, but she instantly regretted letting those words pass through her badly-functioning filter. She just hoped that Regina wouldn't question her about it.

"I don't have multiple personalities Ms. Swan, this is all me."

"Not the impression I got from the door slammed in my face ten months ago," was the muttered reply. And there was the snark, coming back again. But before she could let this conversation derail into another snark fest, Emma wanted to take advantage of the fact that they were both currently stuck in her house and that Regina seemed to be more social. Truth of the matter was, Emma still had a major crush on the slightly older woman, and last night's kiss only helped to solidify that crush. Can't blame a girl for wanting to take this opportunity to get into her crush's good books right? "So is it like a defense mechanism then?"

"What is?"

"Your...cold demeanour."

"Really Ms. Swan, you need not mince words. I know you don't say that to someone like Mr. Brown when talking about me."

It took Emma a few seconds to remember that Bobby's last name was Brown. She then rolled her eyes at both the formal titles and her suggestion. "Fine, do you usually come of as bitchy because it's a defense mechanism?"

Emma had been expecting a scathing remark or even sarcasm, but definitely not, "Yes, it is."

Even Regina surprised herself with the revelation. Why was she being so open to her neighbour all of a sudden? "Why? I mean, no offence but you won't really make friends with that kind of attitude."

"Perhaps, Ms. Swan, as unbelievable as it might seem to you, I do not want friends."

And indeed Emma found that hard to believe. "What? Seriously? You don't have _any_ friends?"

"I never said that. I have one friend, and that is more than enough for me."

"Really? But- you...and." It was official, Regina had left Emma completely flabbergasted.

"Honestly Ms. Swan, are you always this articulate?"

"Not unless it's in front of a pretty girl." To cap it off, Emma winked at her.

Regina was sure that her cheeks heated a bit at that. Now it was Regina's turn to be silenced with an unexpected answer.

"But really, you don't have any interest in getting any new friends ever?" Emma still couldn't wrap her mind around this.

"None at all."

"But why? You could have so much more fun, and talking with different people, learning about their lives-"

"I'm not interested in friends, Ms. Swan. Everyone ends up betraying you eventually. Less friends means less chances of being screwed over."

Emma was aghast. "Who in this world imparted that little piece of shitty advice on you?"

Regina scoffed, a condescending sneer gracing her face at the blonde's rude remark. "My mother."

"She must've been a piece of work. Who says that to their kid?"

"I do agree with her actually. Friends are useless and pointless."

Emma levelled the other woman with a look that screamed 'I call bullshit on that'. "Oh come on, you said it yourself, you have _a_ friend, so clearly you can see they can't be all that bad!"

"I disagree."

"Plus I'm pretty sure your friend wouldn't much enjoy being called useless and pointless." Then Emma thought for a bit before adding, "Unless she also graduated from Mrs. Mills' school of shitty antisocial proverbs?"

Regina's lips quivered the slightest bit upwards into a smile. It came and went so quickly, Emma, who had been looking attentively at the other woman, started to wonder if she had imagined the brunette's entertainment at her little quip. "She is a rare exception."

"Perhaps other rare exceptions out there for you?" Emma wanted to add 'like me' but felt that would be a bit presumptuous of her to do so. At least right now.

"I doubt it. I've had my trial and error phase years ago Ms. Swan. It's a waste of time trying to convince me otherwise."

"Well, I don't agree." Feeling bold, Emma put her idea on the table with a grin. "And you know what, I'm going to prove it to you. I bet that by the end of the year, I will be your friend. Consider this like a trial period to seeing if having another friend would be such a horrible thing."

Regina's expression was one of disdain. "And what if I don't agree to your wager?"

"Then you can go back to your lonely life with your one friend and fancy ass job. But you'll have lost the opportunity to opening yourself up to something great and wonderful."

Regina doubted that would be the case. "I'll take my chances staying as I am Ms. Swan."

"Oh come on, if it doesn't work, you can continue teasing me eternally until one of us moves out. And I promise I won't bother you anymore. Just give it a chance Regina. It's just 4 months."

The intercom beeped right then, prompting Emma to go over and talk to Bobby. He let them know that a repair-man would be there in a couple of minutes. Emma thanked him for the update and then made her way back to the couch, waiting for Regina's response.

The brunette sighed. She'd had to endure more for less, so she nodded. "Very well Ms. Swan. Once the clock strikes midnight and everyone rings in the new year, you'll leave me alone." She extended her hand to shake on it.

Emma gladly took the offered hand, shaking it firmly. "I doubt that; you'll become my friend. Watch."

* * *

**August 15**

It had been a week since the wager had been set. Regina had gotten her key back, and she'd hardly seen the blonde since then. She knew the blonde had odd hours from the little she'd seen in the past 10 months, but had never sought to ask. Rather, she never had an interest in knowing why.

Just then someone knocked on her door. Regina opened it to see said blonde grinning on the other side.

"Come on. Let's go."

"Go where Ms. Swan?" Regina really wasn't in the mood. Her work week had been hell, she just wanted to wind down and relax.

"Out. Come on!"

"Ms. Swan, being vague and insisting 'come on' won't make me go anywhere with you."

"Okay, first of all, my name is Emma, if we're going to do the whole friends thing, you have to start calling me by my first name, we're not business partners or something. Secondly, I'm taking you out for a walk around the neighbourhood so we can get to know each other, as part of the whole friends thing."

Regina was not amused one bit with the blonde's answer. Though she had to admit, the woman had balls. Others had peed their pants trying to ask smaller things of her, and yet she barrelled through everything gung ho. "Ms. Swan, I agreed to that 'friends thing' as you so call it, to hopefully get you off my back, I did not sign up for a bonding session or anything of the like. And I have the right to call you whatever I so wish."

"No wonder it's so hard for you to make friends. Seriously woman. It's just a walk, I'm not planning on pulling your teeth out without anaesthetic. Would it kill you to go along with this?"

"No, it wouldn't kill me, I just find it a waste of time, time that I would rather spend doing more pleasant things."

"Okay, no walking, gotcha. So what do you do for fun? Read business reports?" Regina realized then that Emma Swan was the most stubborn person she'd ever met. She didn't take no for an answer.

She really wanted to smack the blonde's smirk right out of her lips. "Ms. Swan you are dangerously close to losing your wager within a week, not to mention driving me closer to a restraining order against you. So do yourself a favour and leave me alone. This is not a free card to do as you please and expect me to go along with it."

Emma held her hands up in surrender. "Alright lady, forgive me for trying to be social. But just so you know, in case shaking hands on a wager or holding your end of the bargain on deals isn't something you do very often, the wager doesn't end until the end of the year. Any quitting before then is forfeiting, and although I don't know you too well, I'm positive that you're someone who never loses. Do you really want to lose against me, Regina?"

Before Regina could say anything, Emma had already left, headed back to her apartment.

* * *

**September 1**

Emma entered the building with a wince. Although she was quiet, internally she was cursing every deity and being under the sun, using her very expansive knowledge of creative swear words she had accumulated over the years. And as a cop she had heard plenty.

"Morning Emma-'re you okay?" Bobby looked at her with trepidation.

She supposed right then that she must look like she just crawled through a horror movie to get here. Her jeans were torn and ripped, her white tank top was coated in dried blood, making her shirt look a terrifying shade of burgundy, and her trusty red leather jacket was caked in mud, as was the rest of her clothes. Her hair was matted with the mud, and her skin was covered in grime and dirt. She's pretty sure she had blood on her face too, but she hadn't really been able to get a good look in the mirror. She had shooed away the doctors, insisting she only needed a patch up job from the bullet wound on her tummy. It hurt like a bitch and Emma was really not in the mood to field questions.

David had insisted she stay over with him and Mary Margaret to recuperate, but Emma was quite aware just how motherly his wife was. Hell she knew her from before she met him, and it was through her that they even met, so she just denied the invitation, planning on falling asleep in her own apartment for the next week or so before wanting to deal with anyone else again.

But now she had to answer the petrified concierge before he called an ambulance on her. "Yeah, dangers of the job you know. Just a prick who ended up being a little bit trigger happy. I'll be fine."

He didn't look too convinced. "Alright, if you say so. Give me a call if you need anything."

Emma flashed him a smile. "Sure thing."

Once Emma was in the elevator, she sagged. God it was so hard keeping up the facade that she was just fine and dandy. The wound hurt like hell, and the rest of her body was sore from running and tackling the asshole who opened fire on her stomach. But Emma knew that she shouldn't have let her guard down too soon, because as soon as the elevator pinged, and the doors opened, Emma was faced with the last person she wanted to see.

Regina Mills, holding a briefcase, looked like she was seeing a ghost as she took in Emma's appearance. Then again, she probably looked worse than a ghost, more like a zombie that had died two times over. She pushed past the frozen brunette, grumbling a curt, "Morning."

"What the hell happened to you?" The elevator was forgotten as the brunette turned to take how dishevelled her neighbour looked. After a couple of seconds the elevator doors closed to respond to a call, but neither woman paid it any mind.

Emma didn't even turn around to respond to Regina, just gave a grunt and kept walking down the hall.

"Ms. Swan!" Nothing. Regina huffed and walked over until she caught up with the blonde who was clearly in pain. "Emma!"

"What!" Emma turned around, not even registering that Regina had used her first name. They hadn't really talked after their little debacle more than 2 weeks ago, apart from some casual "Ms. Swan", "Regina" and some vague conversations about the weather that were curt and far from friendly. It wasn't as if they were arguing that much, but the curt answers wouldn't fool anyone into thinking that they could be friends. Truth was that Regina was feeling a bit guilty over the incident, but she was too proud to admit it.

"What happened you look like-"

"Shit? Yeah I know. Comes with the job. You should see the other guy." Emma flashed a pained smirk. Then it fell as a wave of exhaustion hit her. "Look, can I just please go home? I feel like crap and probably look worse than it, and I really don't have time to do this right now. I'll rain check, and plus, you look like you're headed to work."

Regina watched as Emma turned around and walked off, but she didn't budge. It felt wrong to leave such a wounded and clearly exhausted woman to fend for herself. She tried to convince herself that she still didn't care for the woman, not even a bit. This was just like the decent human being thing Emma had mentioned last month, right?

"Motherfucker! Son of a fucking bitch-" Regina looked up and saw that Emma was having a hard time opening her door. From what she could tell, Emma had gotten her keys out, but fumbled with them and they fell. Picking them up was proving difficult, leading to the string of expletives coming out from the blonde's mouth. "- can shove it up his fucking asshole! Hijo de su puta madre!"

Regina's eyes widened at seeing the Spanish mixed in there. She made a mental note to ask the blonde about it later. Wait, later? Regina was not planning on having a conversation with Emma. Yet she was still standing there. She finally made up her mind, walking over to the still cursing blonde. "Here let me."

The insults died on the blonde's lips as she gingerly turned to see her neighbour not only still there, but picking up her keys and opening the door for her.

"Come on." Regina let the blonde go inside first before going in herself, closing and locking the door behind her. She put the keys down on top the entranceway table, in a bowl that she had seen the keys placed before, as well as her briefcase beside it. Emma just stood there at the mouth of the hallway, dumbfounded at the 180 Regina seemed to be doing. But she was all business as she carefully looked over the blonde. "Are you injured?"

Emma was sure someone was pulling a trick on her. "What?" Great her ability to speak like a functional human being had deserted her.

"I see that you're in a pitiful state, but is it all superficial or did you get badly injured?"

The blonde tried to get her brain to work. "No, yeah I mean, I got a gunshot wound-"

"Where?" The urgency and force of the question threw Emma off. Regina walked up to the blonde, the latter for the first time seeing Regina looking worried. "Do you need to go to the hospital?"

Emma lifted her bloodied tanktop a bit to show the patch job. "Been there done that."

Regina saw that there was indeed gauze covering the woman's lower stomach, but fear still seeped at seeing how bad her neighbour look. "Well why don't you go get a bath to get rid of all that grime. Have you had breakfast yet?"

Emma had no idea who this woman was and what she had done with the usually frigid neighbour, but she wasn't about to complain or trade her up for anything. "Uh yeah sure, I'll go do that. Thanks."

"Do you need any help?"

"Nah I'm good."

Some minutes later and Emma was back, wet hair in a ponytail, wearing clean pyjamas and feeling a lot better than what she had been while wearing her ruined clothes. Her jeans were for sure a lost cause, but she was sure her jacket could be saved, it was her favourite after all. The tank top was nothing special, but Emma would try to wash it to see if the blood would go away. Walking back to the kitchen, she smelled coffee and toast, but saw no neighbour.

"I don't care if he's waited 2 months for this. Tell him that if he's waited this long, he can wait another day and meet me tomorrow!" Emma practically jumped out of her skin at seeing the brunette appear, speaking into her cellphone while pacing. She saw the ferocious Regina Mills growling into the phone, presumably a poor assistant who was probably not paid enough to deal with this kind of shit.

Emma stayed stock still as the brunette hung up the phone after barking a couple of orders more. So much for a sweet and docile Regina, the bitchy one was back in full swing.

"Are you feeling better?" Emma didn't respond, so Regina went up to the blonde, a hand reaching out to touch the other woman's upper arm. "Emma?"

Said woman jumped out of her skin, not a good idea because the pain came shooting back, after being dormant for the past 10 minutes ever since she started to shower. "Fucking shit!"

Regina jumped back a bit, letting go of the other's arm, at hearing the curse words. "Does it hurt?" Now Regina felt like she had just asked the dumbest question ever, of course it'd hurt, that's why she yelled out in the first place.

But Emma didn't prod her for the question, instead just nodding. "Sorry for startling you."

"I probably deserve it, I startled you a few seconds before that."

"Touche."

Both women stood there, unsure what to do. Then Regina remembered breakfast. "Go sit down on the couch, I'll bring you a plate of food and some coffee."

And kind Regina was back. Emma decided that it was probably best she just nod slowly and not question it, otherwise she'd probably drive herself insane trying to figure her out. "Thanks."

A few minutes later both women were seated on the couch exactly as they were one month ago. "So what happened?"

Emma swallowed some of her toast and launched into her tale. "I'm a cop, a detective actually. We had a white collar crime, forger who loved to recreate Renaissance paintings and sell them on the black market as real ones. We had been tracking him down for the past while, and yesterday we finally got a lead on him. We went in to bust him, and bam, guy has a gun and is pointing at us. Turns out he was trying to be all bark and no bite, but when he got ready to put the gun down, he accidentally pressed on the trigger. Guess who was in the line of fire?

"Well the guy freaked out then, dropping everything and running off, out of the second story window. Me being the hardheaded idiot I am, rushed after him, jumping out the window as well. The building was near this marsh, hence the mud and dirt and everything. Eventually I caught up with the bastard, and body checked him. And that's basically the past 24 hours from me. Now care to enlighten me on what you're doing here?"

Regina had been raptly listening to the story, surprised at the woman's career path, but did a double take on the last part. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Regina, is that you were clearly headed to work, you were yelling at your assistant to reschedule meetings and to postpone things, and yet you interrupted all of that because I looked like shit? Now you're acting like you've got all the time in the world, and I hate for you to lose your job because of me."

Regina flashed the smallest hints of a smile. "Well that's the perk of being the boss of the company."

"Seriously? You're the boss? Why am I not surprised? What field?"

"Law."

"Once again, not surprised. But you're avoiding the question. Why clear your schedule for me?"

"Emma, you looked like death had chewed and spewed you back out, I couldn't just leave you by yourself. Plus I..." Here Regina fell silent, mumbling the last part.

"What was that?" Emma was grinning, thinking it to be a joke. But at seeing how the older woman only clutched her arms, seemingly making herself smaller, Emma had realized the woman never acted like this before. So she scooted closer to the other woman, grabbing her hands and squeezing them softly. "Hey. Whatever it is, don't be embarrassed or scared. Friends tell each other stuff."

Friends, right. Regina had to resist the urge to scoff at the title. She wasn't falling for this. She pulled her hands away from the blonde, clearing her throat. "It's nothing, I was just saying that after you did the decent thing and helped me while I was drunk, I should do the same for you while you're hurt."

Emma nodded. She didn't think for a second that that was what Regina had originally been intending to say, but didn't question it. She could note the honesty even within these words. "Thanks."

* * *

**September 3**

Emma looked up at the very intimidating building in front of her, clutching the bag she was holding tightly. She was either going to make this a stepping stone in their friendship, or it'd crash and burn terribly. No in between.

She passed through the revolving doors, stepping in to the cool interior of the high rise. She gave the security guards a smile and went up to the directory. Mills, Mills, Mills, where could she be? Ah! Mills and Associates, 20th floor. Bingo and score 1 for Emma.

"May I help you?" One of the security guards clearly didn't like the look of her traipsing around such a fancy place without a suit of some kind.

Emma had donned her usual attire of leather jackets and jeans, so yeah maybe she looked a bit out of place, but she had every right to be there. "Oh hi! I was just checking the directory, I'm here to see Ms. Mills."

"Do you have an appointment?" The security guard knew Ms. Mills, not personally thankfully, but he'd seen her around the building, yelling and commanding everyone, terrifying poor interns on the side. He's also heard the horror stories, like one of the old guards, Danny, getting the third degree over letting someone into her office without an appointment. The guy had been obviously fired, but had a sympathy shower over having survived the ordeal.

"Kinda not really?" Emma tried to hope that good looks and innocence would get her in, but this guy looked the type to not take bullshit as an answer.

"No appointment, no entrance."

Alright, Emma was going to try another approach. She took out her badge and flashed it. "Look man, I'm a detective. I was told to come here to talk about a case. My boss assured me I wouldn't have a problem getting in, even without an appointment, but she's expecting me. Just call her and ask if she knows me and I'll bet you anything she'll say yes."

Clearly this guy feared Regina, because at the mention of having to call the woman. "Yeah sure, have a good day Miss."

Emma flashed him a smile. Intimidation and confidence always worked wonders. Score 2, and things were going good so far. She made her way to the elevators before the security guard could have time to rethink and maybe get a bit of courage, pressing the button for the 20th floor and then the door close button.

A few minutes later and Emma was standing in front of the desk of the woman who she assumed was the one Regina was yelling at the day before yesterday.

"One second please." The secretary, a woman who couldn't be much older than herself flashed a practised smile at her.

Emma nodded her understanding, looking around the busy office. It looked like the stereotypical office setting. Cubicles everywhere, people walking with purpose.

"Yes? How can I help you?" The secretary was now looking at her expectantly. Clearly these people were suit snobs, because the condescending look she received due to her attire was really unnecessary.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you could direct me to Ms. Mills' office?"

The secretary looked down towards her schedule. There was no one scheduled for now. In fact, her boss had told her in no uncertain terms that she wasn't to be disturbed since she was busy looking over some important documents. "I'm sorry, but seeing as you don't have an appointment, I can't help you."

"Seriously?" Emma could hardly believe this.

"What seems to be the problem?" Emma whipped around to see a man dressed in a pressed two-piece suit, hair neatly combed and beard trimmed. He looked like he just got out of a catalogue.

"This lady wanted to see Ms. Mills without an appointment," was the reply the secretary gave.

The man nodded in understanding. He looked at the clothes the woman was sporting, trying to size up the reason for her being here. "I can assist you with whatever problem you may be having, my office is right this way."

"I'm not here for a consultation." Emma ground out. She was losing her patience. These guys were treating her like a child!

"Oh?" the secretary piped up. "Well clearly you're not here for a job."

"What? No I- even if I was, what the hell is your problem? Just because I'm not wearing a fancy thousand dollar suit, it doesn't make me lesser than you, sunshine."

* * *

Regina Mills had been having a terrible day. One of her clients, the one she had neglected to see the other day due to Emma's injury, decided yesterday to chew her out for it, leading to quite a heated battle between the two. He then expected her to still take on his case, and for free. She laughed in his face and had him escorted out of the building.

With all the time she lost yesterday, she was thankful for the 2 hour period that she had in order to try to catch up with her files. Technically it was only one hour, but she was forgoing her lunch hour to finish everything. She could muster something to eat later.

But of course, there had to be a ruckus going on outside. Just her luck. She gripped her table tightly as she got out of her desk chair, getting ready to give someone a piece of her mind. Out of all the scenarios she expected to see, what was happening was definitely not it.

Emma Swan was standing in front of Ashley's desk, the secretary herself had a glare going on, and Mr. Locksley was trying to usher her somewhere.

"What the hell is going on here?" All three whipped around at hearing her voice. Both of her employees shrank down the slightest at seeing her, while Emma just stood there, furious as ever. But the fury wasn't directed at her, rather at the two she had been talking to.

"Well I-" Emma started trying to explain, but was bowled over by Ashley.

"I'm sorry Ms. Mills, this woman here was trying to get in here without an appointment, we're sorry for disturbing you."

Emma however, turned right back to the secretary. "Is that your big issue? Me not having an appointment? Fine." Emma then grabbed a card from the stack on top of the desk, took out her cellphone, and started to dial.

3 seconds later Ashley's desk phone started to ring.

Regina was dumbfounded at the blonde's impertinence. She finally shook herself out of her reverie. "That won't be necessary. Please come with me, Ms. Swan."

As Regina walked off back to her office, Emma grinned at the secretary, who had her hand on the receiver ready to pick up. She was baffled; her boss knew the lady, and not only that, but was letting her have their meeting without an appointment? Who was she?

Once Emma was inside the lush office, Regina closed the door behind her, and turned to glare at the woman, arms crossed in front of her. "What in the world were you thinking?"

Emma just sheepishly held up the bag she had been carrying. "I thought we could do lunch. I just got out of work and figured I should thank you for the other day, even if it was you thanking me for helping with your thing...yeah." And Emma was rambling so she just let the response trail off.

Regina however, was surprised, and pleasantly so. The woman had gone out of her way to bring her lunch, hunting down her work place to bring it to her? Plus she was a bit hungry. She could spare some time. She gave the faintest of smiles before gesturing to the visitor's chair in front of her desk, "Very well, have a seat."

The blonde grinned. She was finally getting somewhere. "Oh and sorry for disrupting you, but to be fair, your secretary is kind of annoying."

Regina's smile widened a bit as she nodded. "But she gets the job done."

"So, I got us Chinese, I wasn't sure if you liked it, but Bobby told me he had gotten some deliveries for you for Chinese, so I'm assuming you'll at least stomach it."

The older woman took the offered box, breaking open her chopsticks. She had to hand it to Emma Swan, the woman was nothing if not persistent and resourceful. "Thank you."

* * *

**September 27**

The two women had managed to find an easy rhythm of conversation, getting to know each other, albeit Regina was a lot less willing to share some things, Emma respected the other woman's need for privacy, instead sharing parts of her colourful life to the brunette.

She learnt that Emma Swan was an orphan moving around foster houses constantly. She had a number of friends from siblings and other fellow foster kids from group homes, but her closest friend was a woman named Mary Margaret, her sister in her final foster family. She had apparently always wanted to become a cop, stemming from her need to have justice - the blonde hinted that some of her past foster parents did some dubious deals, but she wouldn't disclose more information.

Regina had also shared a bit, explaining about her mother's iron fist rule, moulding Regina into the perfect daughter, while her father meekly watched. Although she was interested in law, her career choice would've been that whether she liked it or not. She had finally managed to break free from her mother's grasp only when the elder Mills had passed away, leaving the law firm in her capable hands.

By the end of September, the two had shared a few lunches together, Ashley was finally softening up to Emma showing up at noon at least once every week with a bag of takeout. With Emma's odd hours and Regina's rigorous one, if they couldn't meet for lunch, they had their chance conversations in the hallways that varied from early in the morning to late at night.

Mrs. Green, the elderly lady in 103, was completely flabbergasted at the change. Poor lady practically fainted a couple of weeks back, seeing that the two women were actually getting along after nearly a year of having to endure the entire debacle.

Now, Emma was once again at Regina's door. It was Saturday, Emma's day off, and the brunette was usually home by this time.

"Emma." The door opened and the brunette was surprised to see the blonde there.

"Hey. I know you aren't the walking person, so I won't offer that again don't worry. But I was wondering if you wanted to watch a movie? Like we don't even need to go to the cinema, just pick a movie and we can just wind down and watch something."

The brunette looked very remorseful right then. "I'm really sorry Emma, I'm a bit swamped with work. I've got a big case coming up. Rain check?"

Emma gave an easy smile. "Hey it's totally alright. You're a busy woman. But yeah, you owe me one!"

Regina also smiled. It made Emma's day to be able to see the brunette smile, bonus points if she was the one to make her smile. She really wondered why the other woman didn't smile more often, it was a gorgeous sight. "Thank you for understanding. I'll talk to you soon?"

"Sure thing. Also big win for me, I managed to knock on your door and not end up with a door slammed in my face!" Emma grinned.

* * *

**October 17**

"You've seriously never been trick or treating?" Emma and Regina were standing in the hallway. Regina managed to leave from work a bit earlier, and caught the blonde woman headed to go grocery shopping, and to go buy candy for the kids.

"My mother saw it as childish."

"And of course a child has no right to being childish," Emma replied with a smirk.

Thankfully, Regina was a bit more laid-back regarding criticisms against her mother. After 2 months, she was having a really hard time not calling the blonde woman her friend. But her pride still had her holding off on telling the blonde she won.

"Tell you what. Why don't you come over to my apartment on Halloween and help me hand out candy to the kids? I'd take you trick or treating, but I've kinda made it a tradition to be a candy-giver to the kids in the neighbourhood."

"The hero of Halloween," Regina replied sardonically.

"Yes I am." Emma puffed out her chest. "So, deal?"

"Deal." Regina nodded.

"And don't forget to get a costume!" Emma yelled back as she made her way to the elevator.

* * *

**October 31**

Emma rushed to open the door, knowing Regina was set to arrive, and got ready to get the brunette into the spirit of Halloween. "Trick or...treat."

Regina Mills was indeed standing in front of her door, and damn she looked gorgeous. Well, more than usual, if that was possible. She was wearing a dark red medieval dress, her medium length brown hair perfect as always, but on top of it was a crown.

"Wow, didn't think you'd go for a princess." A _very sexy_ princess, Emma was quick to add in her mind. She stepped aside to let the brunette inside.

Regina gave a mischievous grin in return, walking past the blonde who was disguised as a vampire, fake teeth, a trail of blood and cape all present. "That's because I'm a queen. The _Evil_ Queen at that."

Emma closed the door behind her, and chuckled. "I thought the Evil Queen was supposed to be this ratty old jealous lady."

Regina gave a mock gasp, and then narrowed her eyes, a sneer adorning her face. "For that insolent comment, I shall destroy your happiness."

To be entirely honest, for a hot second there, Emma thought she had actually upset Regina. But then she saw the playful glint in her eye and relaxed. "You're quick to get in character, your Majesty."

"Always the charming one."

"The charming-est vampire to ever be." Emma replied with a wink.

* * *

One hour later and Regina had to admit she was having a lot of fun. She could see why people would enjoy this. The children were adorable, and Emma's antics when opening the door were incredibly entertaining, Regina was having a ball.

Emma meanwhile, would always remember this as the historic day that she heard Regina Mills really laugh for the first time. The sound made Emma's heart soar, and she just kept on joking around with the kids. Some Evil Queen, she'd never pass of as one, not that Emma really minded, she liked this Regina a whole lot.

"No but did you see the kid all decked out in his Iron Man costume? It was so detailed!" Emma was gushing while they waited for their next visitors, standing near the door.

"Oh but the little girl as Batman was even better!"

The doorbell rang once more, and Emma picked up the bowl and opened the door.

"Emma!" Regina saw some 6 kids all standing in front of them.

"Me? I am not Emma! I am Lady Dracula! And I am going to feast on every one of you. RAWR!" Emma brought her hands up as claws, leaning down to be on their eyelevel.

Regina meanwhile brought her hand up to her mouth to stifle her laughter.

But the kids weren't deterred, and they ran at her, with a yell bringing her down with them.

"Ah! My weakness! Children!" Emma fell down with the force, sprawling onto the carpet, closed her eyes and acted 'dead'.

The kids settled down, sitting on top of her chest and legs,all giggling and poking at Emma. Then it was as if they noticed that Regina was there.

"Who're you?" One kid asked.

Regina smiled at him, kneeling in front of him. "I'm Regina. You?"

"Andrew! I'm a cowboy!"

"And a very handsome cowboy at that."

"What are you supposed to be?" A girl asked.

Emma, who was listening to everything, tried her best to stop a smile from appearing. Regina really seemed to be getting along with the kids.

"The _Evil_ Queen." Regina replied, winking at the kids.

"You don't look evil!"

"Yeah! I bet you're really a princess."

No one till now had believed Regina to be an evil monarch, everyone was convinced she was actually a princess, and a very pretty one at that, as one kid dressed as Zorro had pointed out with a blush a while back.

"Oh I know!" The girl snapped her fingers. "You can wake Emma!"

"Yeah! The kiss of true love!"

"Come on Regina! Kiss her!"

"Yeah 'Gina!"

"Oh no dear, I couldn't, maybe your friend the princess could do the honour instead."

Said princess scrunched her face up. "Ewww no, kissing is for grown-ups!"

The kids once more were insisting, and Regina realized that there was no way out of this.

And so she leaned down and kissed Emma in an upside down kiss.

It was meant to be a simple kiss, but before Regina could back away, Emma had grabbed her cheeks and brought their faces together for a deeper kiss.

"Ewwww!" The kids might've been all for the kiss, but actually seeing them kiss was grossing them out. Not really though, but kisses were supposed to be gross.

The two broke apart, smiling widely.

"Yay Emma woke up!"

"Yes I did! And for that, you guys can take as much candy as you want."

The kids soon left, leaving the two blushing women standing there, unsure what to say. Did they just jump from almost friends to something more?

* * *

**November 10**

It seems the kiss had actually backtracked their progress. They were once more in the awkward phase during August. They saw each other in the hallways, greeted each other stiffly, and continued with their lives. Emma had said she was busy with a top secret case, so lunches were going to have to hold for a while. A convenient happening, Regina thought wryly.

It was then that she realized that she missed the blonde's company. The great Regina Mills had fallen.

She wanted Emma Swan as her friend.

So that night, as she went to the blonde's door, and knocked.

* * *

Emma Swan looked up at the clock. It was 11pm on a Monday night, who could it be?

She definitely wasn't expecting Regina to be on the other side of the door.

Things had gotten awkward between them, and Emma was afraid of screwing things up even more. Although Emma could bet that Regina enjoyed the kiss as much as she did, the brunette was a naturally private person, and admitting to things was not in her nature. She just regressed into herself until the danger passed.

"Regina? Is everything okay?" The brunette was nervous, that much Emma could tell. After 3 months, she knew the telltale signs. Fidgeting, downcast eyes were key signs.

"You won."

"What?" Emma honestly had no idea what Regina was talking about. What did she win? Did she sign up for a contest that she didn't remember?

Regina now raised her head, and looked Emma in the eyes. "You were right about the friends thing."

Emma felt like she was on cloud nine. She forgot who it was she was talking to, and just went to engulf the other woman in a bear hug. However, instead of acting like a porcupine and getting all defensive about contact, Regina returned the hug, wrapping her arms around the blonde.

After they broke apart, the blonde couldn't resist, and smirked. "Told ya."

* * *

**December 2**

The Halloween kiss was still hanging over their heads. Both women thought the other had forgotten about it, and so neither brought it up. However as it was, they both vividly remembered it, and wanted nothing more than to discuss it. But having been officially friends for less than a month meant that there was a delicate balance at stake.

"The weather that bad?" Emma asked, seeing at the snow-covered Regina walking towards her apartment. It was Tuesday evening. Emma was off to work, cases always started piling up around the holidays.

"Worse." Regina muttered, rubbing her gloved hand over her head to get rid of excess snow in her hair. "Plus Christmas shoppers."

Emma knew that Regina had never been that much of a Christmas person. Not in a 'ba hum bug' way, just through negative experiences with her mother. The blonde had already insisted that she'd cash in her raincheck from October, and have her attend the Christmas dinner with Mary Margaret and David and herself. The couple had been surprised, after all they heard about the brunette, they hadn't imagined Emma would try to befriend the other woman.

"You missed a spot." Emma rubbed a spot of snow that had fallen into the brunette's cheek. The gesture was certainly intimate, and neither missed it.

Regina cleared her throat, looking anywhere but the blonde. "Well, enjoy work Emma. See you tomorrow?"

"Definitely. Lunch's on me." Emma grinned, walking backwards towards the elevator, still looking at Regina, who nodded.

* * *

**December 25**

Regina was actually having fun. Little James, the couple's kid, was an absolutely adorable baby, cooing and making noises making all four adults laugh.

They had played games, eaten dinner, and now while the parents went to put their child away, Emma and Regina were in charge of getting some wine out and ready.

"Do you have any idea where the glasses could be?" Emma asked Regina, who was standing by the kitchen island while the blonde looked through the drawers and cabinets.

"If you don't know, how can I possibly know?" Regina responded with a smirk.

"Ha ha."

Regina jerked her thumb back to the dining room. "There's some glasses still on the table?"

Emma shook her head, "Nah, I don't want to start with the whole 'whose glass was it?'"

Regina nodded. Understandable. "Very well. I'll go get the wine meanwhile."

"Sure."

After a couple of seconds, Emma finally found the glasses. She guessed they would be drinking in the dining room, so she made her way there with the four glasses in her hand.

Regina grabbed the wine bottle, held chilled in the bucket of ice throughout dinner. She assumed that drinks would be in the kitchen, so she made her way there.

Both women braked in the doorway, barely avoiding crashing into each other and creating a disaster. "Phew! Saved." Emma grinned.

Regina let out a soft laugh. Emma saw that there was a shadow on Regina's face, so she looked up.

"Mistletoe."

The brunette opened her eyes to look, and fell silent at seeing the plant. The blonde made the first move and placed a soft kiss on the brunette's lips.

"Merry Christmas Regina."

* * *

**December 31**

Once more the kiss had been avoided as a topic of discussion. Now both racked it up as being an 'in the moment' thing, so they left it at that.

Regina decided to finally be the one to take initiative and invite the blonde to her apartment for once. They were going to watch the Times Square Ball drop from the TV, and ring in the new year together.

"Come on! There's 5 minutes left!"

"I'm coming woman! Pouring champagne drunk isn't easy y'know!" Neither woman was truly that drunk, but they had had a few drinks before this, and were a bit tipsy and giggly.

"3 minutes!" Regina said as Emma came back, one filled champagne glass in each hand.

At 1 minute, Regina decided on something that she had been debating for the past week. She grabbed both glasses, and set them down on the table.

"What-" Emma was puzzled.

Regina looked at the TV screen, and saw that the timer was at 7 seconds. The brunette placed both hands on the blonde's cheeks.

Emma was afraid to move. She nearly forgot to breathe at that moment.

3 seconds.

"Happy New Year!" The TV screamed.

"Happy New Year's Emma," and Regina joined their lips together.

* * *

**Before anyone asks, I couldn't decide on what show to make them watch, which is why I left it so vague.**

**Also I have no idea if keys can actually get stuck like that, but it nearly happened to me once, so it might be a thing.**

**Spanish translation: son of a bastard mother, if you had to say it literally. Basically what Emma had said earlier with son of a fucking bitch, but en espanol.**

**I hope that this was well-paced. I know some parts were longer than the others, but I felt that some areas deserved more exposition, while others were meant to be more snapshots so it wasn't just "wait, when did they decide that?"**

**And that was this one shot! Though it did end up being a bit long, the story just kept on getting longer, but I hope everyone enjoyed this!**

**Send me your prompts! As for my bigger stories, I'm starting to work on the Enchanted AU, and then updating Such a Heavenly View! Perhaps another drabble in the middle, so stay tuned!**


	2. In the End, We're All Just Stories

**Wow! I'm flattered that the one-shot was so well received!**

**But I'm a little bit mystified as to why I didn't get requests, thought. I only got one so far, so send them in! **

**Now this is the sad fic I mentioned before, so be prepared for feels and all that jazz. But I'm a sucker for happy endings, so this one will also have a happy ending, you'll see how.**

* * *

**In the End, We're All Just Stories**

_Angst_

**Summary:** Regina keeps staring at the place she used to call home. Now it was only an empty shell of what it used to be. But she still came here every year. It helped her to cope, ironically enough. Sometimes, if she closed her eyes, she could hear the sounds from 40 years ago whispering through the wind.

**Prompted by:** My evil mind that thinks up of terrible plots and won't let me forget about it until it's written.

**Warnings/ Notes:** Uhhhm character deaths. It's a future fic, so most people are gone from old age. But there is a happy ending! I promise! Also I apologize for the names, I know everyone has headcanons on what the childrens' names would be and whatnot, but I hope this is fine.

* * *

Regina was standing in the doorway, the chilly November air was really getting to her. It was snowing, and her son really needed to open the door, she didn't care how old he was, leaving his mother out in the cold was just asking for a serving of her patented Regina Mills glare. But it was Thanksgiving, she could forgive him for this one.

"Hey mom!" Finally, Henry had opened the door. He stepped aside to let her in, flashing a handsome grin at her. Even at 50 Henry had still kept his boyish charm. He gave her a side hug, careful to not knock the casserole out of her hands. She kissed him on the cheek in return, glad to be out of the cold.

"Hello dear, how is everyone?" Regina asked, handing the casserole of lasagna over to him so he could take it to the kitchen while she removed her jacket and boots.

"Pretty good, Timmy is taking Leia's kids tobogganing in the park. Meanwhile Leia and Amanda went to buy more apples for the pudding. And Nancy is right in the kitchen."

"Hey Regina!" Right on cue the brunette woman married to her son peeked out from the kitchen. In a pleasant twist of events, Nancy had gotten along quite fine with both Regina and Emma. They didn't have the typical in-law relationship, something that Regina was thankful for, after all the years she had to deal with the dysfunctional madness that were Snow and Charming, especially after she and Emma started dating. Nothing would ever compare to the Snow and Charming Third Degree she got.

"Hey Nancy, need any help preparing?" Regina entered the kitchen and went right over to the stove, letting its warmth heat her up.

"Nah, I think we've got it, you can go sit at the table. The kids should be back soon and I'm sure they'll love to see you!"

She nodded and sat down, watching how husband and wife worked in sync to prepare everything. A few minutes later, the doorbell rang again, and once Henry came back, he was accompanied by Leia and Amanda.

Once Leia saw Regina, she left her wife, bounded past Henry, and nearly toppled her in her chair. "Mom!"

"Hello dear, how have you been?" Regina returned the hug with as much force as she could muster. Once they broke apart, the older woman did a double take, and her breath caught in her throat. Leia looked more like Emma every day. Except for the eyes and the mouth, which she inherited from Regina, she was the spitting image of Emma.

Of course that was due to the fact that she was biologically both theirs. After finding out that they could have a child together due to their true love, they took the opportunity and had Leia, naming her after Emma's identity when she bungled the trip to the past. However, for the sake of both their children's lives, neither spouse nor their own children were told about the fairy tale or magical side of their family. It just made it easier than having to explain all about the Evil Queen who was no longer evil or a queen. Plus out in this world her powers were nulled, and she didn't really feel like driving all the way back to Storybrooke just to prove that once upon a time, she used to be a fairy tale villain. So the official story was that they used a sperm donor, accounting for Leia's likeness to Emma, even though it had been Regina who had carried the child.

"Pretty good, the kids are growing up so fast though, I'm sure they'll love to see you."

"Hey Regina." Amanda came up to stand behind her wife, flashing a nervous smile. She was the only one who knew who Regina used to be, finding out through a magical mishap. It happened some years ago when the entire family had gone over to Storybrooke to attend the Annual Celebration. Leia and her then newly-married wife were in the middle of an argument, and Leia's anger had magically manifested into a personal storm cloud over Amanda, spewing out rain, thunder and lightning. When the panicked woman went up to the Swan-Mills family not knowing what to do, Henry had burst out laughing, while Leia was near to having a heart attack over her wife finding out her magical capabilities. While Emma calmed her daughter down and chastised her son for rudeness, Regina removed the magical cloud, and they were forced to explain the truth. Thankfully Nancy had been out with the kids, so no one else found out about the incident.

Ever since then, the woman was still antsy around Regina, eager to please and prove that she could be a good wife to Leia. She was certain that she'd probably get a fireball headed her way should she disappoint, despite the fact that the older woman had tried to assuage her worries countless times.

"Hello Amanda," Regina was poised to ask a question, but the opening of another door and the screams of "Grandma!" effectively cut off any conversation. She turned around and saw the three children that brightened her world. Well, Timmy was already 21 and no longer a child, but Leia's were still children. Vincent and Renata both mimicked their mother as they rushed to give her a huge hug. Regina didn't even care that she was getting soaked to the bone from the melting snow that clung to their jackets, it made her happy to have them near her. Regina had always had a soft spot for children, and becoming a grandma was a blessing in that sense.

"Alright, everyone go clean up, dinner will be ready in a bit!" Nancy called out, seeing the mess the kids were making, and giving a pointed glare to Timmy. He'd be cleaning it up or so help her, she'd whoop his ass to next year.

* * *

"So grandma!" Renata, the ever curious 8-year old, looked up from where she was sitting behind her. "Can you tell me the story of the Queen and the Knight? I keep asking mommy for the story, but she never tells it like you do."

Regina looked up at her daughter, who sheepishly grinned at her. "Of course, Nat."

"Yay! Can you start now, please _please_?" Renata, who preferred to go by her nickname - Nat, latched onto her arm and pleaded her with big puppy eyes.

"Please grandma?" Little Vincent mimicked his older sister's actions, latching on to her other arm.

She looked around the room, and everyone was looking expectantly at her. She had become well-known as a storyteller in their family. When Emma had been around, she'd even help act out the scenes, looking like the most lovable goof. "Of course. Once upon a time, in the Enchanted Forest, there lived a queen. But she was not happy. You see, she was alone, with no one to love. Everyone either feared or hated her..."

Dinner went by at a slow pace. Everyone was entranced by the story. No matter how many times Regina told it, everyone always felt like it was the first time they were hearing it. Of course, she was also telling the G version of the story, which meant no heart ripping or forced marriages, and especially no death threats.

As they got to dessert, Regina had made quite a progress into the story. She took a deep breath and continued, not willing to let the tears fall. "Of course the valiant knight was also a very clumsy one. So clumsy that she tripped and crashed right into the Queen, toppling them both over..."

In a way, she was letting her grandchildren learn about Emma. Leia's children didn't remember their blonde grandmother, having been too young when they had last seen her. Although they'd never know it was her, she knew that the children loved the Knight. She was sure Emma would've given her a smug look for that fact.

By the time Regina was finishing the story, Vincent and Renata were tucked into the guest bedroom, eyes drooping but both powering through their fatigue to hear the end of the story they'd heard countless times.

"And they lived happily ever after?" Renata mumbled, a sleepy smile adorning her face.

"Yes." No, not really. Not ever after. But she supposed 35 years was as good as it was going to get. But the children needn't know that. To them the story ended in a vague ever after, that promised simplicity and happiness for the rest of the characters' lives. Regina knew better, and until she had gotten her own family with Emma, Henry and Leia, she herself didn't believe in Ever Afters. Now the belief was gone again, but the newer generation of her family made it worthwhile.

She kissed both children goodnight, and closed the door behind her, going back to the living room. On the way down she passed by Timmy, who was looking a bit tired himself, saying he was headed to bed.

"'Night grandma." Timmy tried to stifle a yawn with a grin, giving her a hug.

"Good night Timmy, and take care." It was startling to see that Timmy was now taller than her, but he was growing up, becoming quite a handsome man in the process.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't want to stay, Mom? We have an extra room ready for you." Henry saw the weather outside. It wasn't snowing anymore, but it was still chilly, and he didn't want his mom to brave the winter weather outside. Deep down he knew it was pointless. She and Emma had done it for years, and now Regina more than ever refused to break tradition.

"It's quite alright Henry, I'll be fine." Regina swatted the worry away.

"Well, call us when you get there okay?" Leia engulfed her in a hug once more. "We love you."

Henry and the two spouses also joined in, cocooning Regina. "And I love all of you."

A few minutes later, the four younger adults were standing on the porch, waving goodbye at Regina until they couldn't see her anymore. She had one last look at the rearview mirror and took a deep breath. Now to head to Storybrooke.

* * *

4 hours later and Regina knew she had crossed the town line. There were no signs to indicate it, the ancient 'Welcome to Storybrooke' sign was dilapidated beyond recognition, and with a mountain of snow around it, it was as if it didn't exist. But she could feel the magic around her. She stopped the car in the middle of the road, getting once more acclimated to having magic flowing through her veins.

She wasn't worried about anyone crashing into her, the town didn't exist to any normal human; only those from the Enchanted Forest, or those accompanied by someone from the Enchanted Forest, could actually visit Storybrooke. After the final curse broke some 30 odd years ago, they had discovered that they were no longer bound by the town's line. Magic was still bound to the limits, but the people of Storybrooke could travel the world they had been inhabiting for so long, and nearly everyone jumped at the chance.

They had become a diaspora after that, spread across the world. Most went to travel and discover, others just wanted a change of scenery. Some had stayed around, preferring the comfort the little town provided. The Swan-Mills family had been among the latter. Both women had had their fair share of travelling, and wanted to provide a stable home for their children.

Regina meanwhile, saw that flurries were beginning to fall, so she started the car again, making her way into town.

As a precaution, everyone's houses still remained in their possessions, assuring them that if anything ever failed in the outside world, they could still have a home in Storybrooke. Of course, as the years went by, people came and went, so the houses were always in use, until death stepped in. Granny was the first to go, and at that point Storybrooke had transformed.

No one saw it as a town anymore, it had become a reminder, a monument of what once was, like a monolith in a cemetery. Only the sense of nostalgia had kept people going to the town, but with the patron of their main hangout gone, it scared the denizens that had remained in Storybrooke. It was as if the plague had set in, everyone wanted to leave. They remembered their own mortality, already extended with the 28 years they had been granted due to the original curse.

Regina had finally reached Main Street, and stopped in front of the clock tower. She had already called Leia to let her know she had arrived safe and sound, so now she could disconnect from the world around her. She turned off the engine, got out of the car, and stood smack in the middle of the road, flurries beginning to gather along her jacket and wispy white hair. She took a deep breath, letting the smell of the seaside town call up memories from so long ago, trying for just a second to repopulate the town in her mind.

But this wasn't the same Storybrooke, no matter how much Regina tried. The town was abandoned, she was the only soul currently there. With so many decades that had passed, the younger generation had dispersed around the world, but they all kept in touch, Henry providing updates to her every now and then. But the people Regina had eventually become friends with, the original adult group from the Enchanted Forest, they were all gone, except for 3.

Gold, after Belle had passed away, decided to drop off from the Earth, choosing to spend the rest of his days closed off somewhere secluded and away from civilization. He had seen and done everything. He no longer had any family, apart from Henry perhaps, but Gold had given up on trying to forge or maintain a connection with anyone after his wife died. He was a recluse, though he had occasionally dropped by to visit Regina, implying that the sight of his old pupil provided him with some comfort. She wasn't sure if Gold retained some semblance of immortality in the outside world, but he looked nearly the same as 40 years ago, the only difference was the haggard worry lines on his face and deep shadows under his eyes as if he hadn't slept in years. She had once suggested that he try to return to the Enchanted Forest, but he denied, claiming that the pain would be even worse there.

Ruby had taken a similar path. She would live a longer life due to the wolf in her, and having lost most of her friends took a toll on her. Granny had been bad enough, but when Snow and Charming died, it had devastated her. Emma had been the sole reason for comfort as the two women grieved. Eventually Ruby got back on her feet, deciding that maybe it would be nice to travel the world, like Archie had done, his memoirs of his travels were an inspiring and vibrant piece.

By the time she came back from her trip some years later, Regina had to tell her the bad news. She didn't even manage to get it all out in one piece, racking sobs broke up her speech, unsure how to tell the wolf that her best friend was gone. Seeing the wolf crumble in her doorstep, letting out a pained howl as she clutched Regina, and Regina to her, realizing that their numbers were diminishing rapidly. After a couple of days, Ruby had made a decision. She went back to Storybrooke, changed into a wolf, deciding to live out her life with other wolves was less painful than wandering around aimlessly as a human.

And Regina. Her life was a whirlwind of emotions. On one hand, she's getting to see her grandchildren grow up, on the other hand, she no longer has her wife, her true love, to comfort her on the days she needs her the most. Sometimes she misses Emma so much she wishes Emma herself would be there to comfort her about it, how messed up is that?

Even Snow and Charming were lucky, they died at the same time, and in each other's arms. But no, Regina has to be living for 5 years now without her wife, going through life on auto-pilot, just waiting for the moments she got to spend time with her surviving family. Although she wouldn't mention this to anyone, she had been coming frequently to Storybrooke, not just for her annual visits.

After they moved out of Storybrooke 20 years ago, Regina and Emma had made it tradition to hold an Annual Celebration with the entire town in Storybrooke. Everyone would come from wherever they had dispersed to join in the festivities, usually in summer, and reconnect with everyone. They made sure to come in every year, but in the last 10 years before Emma died, more and more people were finding reasons to not go. They didn't want to face the past and all the people they lost. After Emma lost her parents, the summer celebrations came to an end, and the couple instead made it to Thanksgiving, so that way she could visit her parents' graves. After Emma died, Regina kept the tradition by herself, always leaving her wife's grave last, where she'd promise she wouldn't cry. Every year she failed, crumbling to the ground and wishing nothing more than to have her wife in her arms again.

But it didn't happen. It never again would, and Regina hated life for that.

She'd heard once that there existed a phenomenon, wherein stories always had one character who would have lost so much, have hell thrown at them, and they would end up living the longest, surviving against all odds. Regina never felt that applied to her more than now. But she wouldn't have changed a thing, her life had been perfect in so many ways, she didn't regret a moment.

She hadn't even realized that she was freezing. She conjured a spell to thaw herself, warming her body up immediately. It was time she got out of the cold. Regina got back into the car, and made her way to 108 Mifflin Street. Since no one lived here, the streets were unkempt, covered in snow, so her travel there was slow. She could just teleport herself there, but she wanted, no - needed to pass through town before heading to her old house. It prepared her for the onslaught of nostalgia she would get, memories coming at her in all directions.

The snow masked how decrepit the town really was. Windows were missing, paints were chipped, and most of the lights no longer worked, and those that did were working on some kind of miracle. It seemed incredible how 40 years ago, or hell 68 years ago when she first cast the curse, the town had been full of life, promising happiness to the once Evil Queen. And she did get her happy ending, until it was taken from her. But now she had no one to blame but time itself, and there was no way to argue with time. So Regina kept on living. She lived for her wife, who would insist she keep going, see their grandchildren grow up, no matter how hard it got for her. She wished she could shut herself out like Gold had, or be like Ruby, run wild to distract herself from the pain, but it'd never work, she loved her family too much to do that to them.

10 minutes later, she finally made her way to the big mansion that she had lived in for so many years. She once more shut the engine and got out of the car, tears already prickling her eyes. She trudged up to the front steps, remembering the first day Henry took Leia to school, Emma and Regina standing at the door beaming as a teenage Henry helped his little sister to carry her backpack that was too big for her body.

With a flick of her hand, the door opened. She no longer had the keys with her, not that she needed them. As she crossed the threshold, her heart clutched at her throat. Regina keeps staring at the place she used to call home. Now it was only an empty shell of what it used to be. But she still came here every year. It helped her to cope, ironically enough. Sometimes, if she closed her eyes, she could hear the sounds from 40 years ago whispering through the wind. So that's what she did, she closed her eyes, not paying attention to the fact that the door was open and snow was beginning to spill inside, wanting to hear.

_"Come on Leia, walk to Mommy, can you do that?"_

_"Mama!"_

_"Yes I'm Mama, but can you go to Mommy?"_

_"No!"_

Regina felt a smile split her face.

_"Hey Ma, how's the speech recognition thing going?"_

_"Not good, your sister is ignoring me!" _She could hear Emma's pout as she replied.

_Henry chuckled. "Let me try."_

_"'Enwy!"_

_"Hey sis!"_

Suddenly Emma's voice felt much closer, so much that presently, Regina shifted a bit.

_"They're adorable huh?"_

_"Earth to Regina...Regina?"_

_"Babe?"_

Regina's eyes shot open. Her heart was beating madly in her chest. For a second there, Emma's voice had sounded so close, so real. But there was no one here, she was alone, and snow was beginning to creep in. She closed the door and turned on the lights with her magic, looking around. The place looked so empty, but there were so many little things that still made it so much the Swan-Mills household.

There was the stain on the wall that looked like a rainbow puked there, as Emma had so colloquially put it. It had been from when Emma had been levitating crayons with magic to entertain Leia, but she somehow managed to make the crayons blow up against the wall, creating an explosion of colour that never went away. There were scuffs on the steps from all the times Henry had come bounding inside, eager to tell his moms about something or other. So many memories embedded into the structure of the house, so even without any furniture, she still felt at home.

She climbed upstairs, forgoing any pretense. She was going to cry, who was she kidding. There was no one to see her break down like this, and the memories, oh the memories, they made her happy and her heart ached to be taken back just one more time again, even for just a second, just so she could see and touch everything and everyone one more time.

It was incredible how much she missed everyone. Yes even Snow White. After Emma's mother had accepted Regina as Emma's girlfriend, and eventually her wife, the two managed to put aside their differences, and truly became family. Of course they still had their spats, but it was mostly for old time's sake rather than anything serious.

The hallway leading to her and Emma's room had never seemed longer, but once she got there, her hand trembled and faltered. She was going to stay the night in a deserted town in her old house that she hadn't lived in for 20 years.

Taking a deep breath, Regina opened the door. An empty room stared back at her, but not for long. With some spells and bringing of furniture, the room looked just like how it would've been 30 years ago. The smells were there, the clothes and trinkets adorning the place. She knew it probably wasn't healthy to try and trick herself that things were just fine, but she needed this. She needed this so much.

She changed into a camisole, painstakingly aware that the many wrinkles on her skin greatly contrasted the fact that she was imagining things as they were 30 years ago. Emma was working late, and she was heading to bed.

The bed smelled so much like her, and now the tears were flowing freely. She clutched the sheets around her, crying until she could cry no more. Crying for her dead wife, for how alone she was, and how much she missed just having her small children, running around and laughing.

_"Don't you dare die on me, you idiot."_

_"You know I'd never do that to you. We've still got a lot to do."_

_"Yes plus you still owe me a dance, remember?"_

_"How can I forget?"_

Oh where had the time gone?

A few hours later, Storybrooke was still once more, not a breathing soul in sight.

* * *

Regina screwed her eyes shut tighter, willing for that persistent knocking sound to stop. But it wouldn't stop, so she opened her eyes. The knocking wasn't part of her dreams...and the surroundings... _What the hell?!_

She scrambled to sit up on her bed - no _the_ bed, this wasn't hers - and tried to get a feeling for her surroundings. But the knocking was making it hard to think, so she growled and let out an angry, "What?!"

The knocking stopped, and a timid male voice on the other end said, "I'm sorry to bother you, your majesty, but they're ready for you now. I shall be waiting outside to escort you to the ball."

Now in the silence, Regina had more questions than answers. Her heart sunk. Her majesty? She hadn't been called that in years, except sarcastically by one Emma Swan. But no, she couldn't be back. She was in Storybrooke, she knew it. She pinched herself tightly, but the scene didn't change. She wasn't dreaming.

Looking around her, the place was a flashing neon sign that told her she wasn't in Storybrooke. She couldn't be-

Scrambling out of the bed, she made her way to the window and threw it open. Staring back at her was the summer landscape of the Enchanted Forest. No this couldn't be happening, had she dreamed her life up? But she wasn't in Leopold's castle, and yet this wasn't the castle she and Emma had shared the last time they had been in here. Looking down at her hands, she saw that the wrinkles were missing, but her wedding ring was still there. So she was still married to Emma, perhaps?

She could only hope that was the case. But in any way, the man mentioned a ball that she was supposed to be attending for some unknown reason, and she looked around the spacious room for clues. There, on a high backed chair, a dress was laid out, and it was expertly decorated, sequins and jewels glinting in the light. She picked the dress up and a piece of parchment fell from where it had been perched on top of the dress. In the scrap, there was only a heart drawn on it. Clearly someone had come in and laid out the dress they wanted her to wear.

Regina supposed that she should play along for now, and try to get as much information as she could from this party. She called forth her magic and in a flash of purple smoke, the dress was now on her. She approached the mirror, and gasped. She looked just like how she had been more than 40 years ago. Her hair was back to being that rich brown, almost black colour, and her body just spectacular.

Well, it was time to face the music and attend a ball. she put on some heels that were by the chair where she found the dress. She wrenched the door open, startling the guard who had been standing there.

"Your majesty," the man bowed as he spoke - she could hear the smallest tremors in his voice - and when he straightened, he held out his arm for her to take. She took the arm, and prepared herself. Balls were never a short event, she hoped she'd at least be able to inconspicuously get out of the party, or at least blend into the surroundings.

They walked downstairs in silence. Regina was just itching to force the man to tell her what was happening, threatening to crisp him into a fireball, but she didn't want to create a scene before knowing what was going on.

When they turned a corner, Regina saw that there were two double doors at the end, open and letting the sounds of a joyous ball to filter through. As the approached, she began to panic. What if she didn't want to find out the truth? What if perhaps her life in Storybrooke had all been made-up? She wouldn't bear it if it was the case.

Before she knew what was happening, the guard beside her snaked his arm out from where it had been linked to hers, and she was left at the doorway alone. She tried to look into the throngs of people for at least one friendly face, but it all looked like a blur to her.

Suddenly, a very familiar voice spoke from behind her. "I believe I still owed you a dance, your majesty."

Regina didn't turn around, as much as she itched to. No, it couldn't be. She just needed to wake up, and she'd be back in Storybrooke, alone once more. Oh what the hell, she might as well indulge herself. She turned around, and a smile broke her face, tears began to fall, and she just stood there, looking.

Emma Swan was standing in front of her. A glorious blue dress to contrast Regina's red one, looking just as she had when she first came to Storybrooke. Her wife took a few steps forward, and cupped her cheek, wiping the tears with her thumb. "Hey, you okay?"

Regina just nodded, not knowing what to say. Emma was there, and she felt so real. A million questions ran through her head, but she didn't know which one to ask first.

Emma took matters into her own hands, literally. She brought Regina's face closer to hers and gave her a small peck on her lips. Regina put her arms around Emma's shoulders, hugging the blonde to her, never wanting this feeling of bliss and happiness to end.

Once they broke apart, Emma grinned. "Come on, I think people are expecting us to dance."

"Wha-" Regina could barely get a word out before Emma grabbed her hand and dragged her to the centre of the room. There they started dancing, and Regina had to fight the urge to neither cry nor panic. She was here, with her true love again. But this wasn't a dream, and Emma seemed to remember Regina's last words to her, so she clearly hadn't gone back in time.

"Hey, you hanging on in there?" Emma's left hand, previously on her hip, was now stroking her cheek.

"Yes, I'm just-"

"Lost, confused?" Emma supplied.

"Yes."

"Look around you."

Regina did as Emma requested, and then she saw. Hundreds of people, people she had known that she had lost, were all around her. Snow and Charming were smiling, standing off to a side as they watched their daughter and daughter in-law dance. She spotted Granny and Archie chatting with Tink.

"We're-"

"Yep. And we've got the rest of time to be with each other. So how about we just enjoy this. You know I won't put on a dress very often."

Regina laughed. Truly laughed like she hadn't in years. She then moved closer to the blonde, and put her hands on Emma's cheeks. "I love you."

"And I love _you_." Emma responded, and they then came together for a real kiss, making up for the years they hadn't been together, and promising many more together to come.

* * *

**Please don't kill me! **

**So I'm pretty sure you can figure out what happened. Stories live on forever huh? I guess if you wanted to imagine a scene of how it'd look like, I was trying to make something like the end scene of Titanic.**

**I don't know, I guess a while back I started thinking about how Regina had gone through so much, and that line about those who have lost so much end up living the longest is just something I've found to appear in some books and popular media, if they show the characters aging far enough.**

**I feel like maybe I didn't do this justice with how I was feeling, I think I write a better comedy than tragedy, but this idea just wouldn't leave me alone!**

**So here it is, I hope everyone enjoyed it...or as much as an angsty fic with a semi-happy ending can be enjoyed. Or if you cried, I guess that also means it was good, right?**

**Let me know what you thought, and please send in requests!**


	3. Tracing Your Face

**Yay! So many prompts! Keep sending them in!**

**I have put up the requests I've received up on my profile so that a) I can keep track and b) to make sure that everyone whose request I received will get filled.**

**Here is the first one! It's ****_much_**** lighter than the previous one [I honestly have my doubts I'll ever get around to writing another super sad fic, but we'll see].**

**Though I'm completely floored at the amazing reaction I got from the previous one-shot, I didn't think people would like it so much!**

**So, funny story, I was originally going to do a modern AU for the prompt, and then I reached a block, and started writing a FTL AU with the same prompt. And then my imagination went wild, and now the FTL story will probably be expanded into a full fic, so for now, we'll have this Modern AU for the prompt, and maybe I'll think about posting the FTL AU.**

**But anyway! Enjoy this drabble! It's another long one!**

* * *

**Tracing Your Face**

_Comedy-ish_

**Summary:** Emma Swan has officially given up on trying to find a job. She was either pitied to the point where she'd quit, or she screwed things up so badly she was kicked to the curb, no in between. With no immediate jobs in the horizon and her money supply dangerously low, she decides to take her sister's offer and live with her in Storybrooke. Finding a job in a small town to tide her over should be easy, right?

**Prompted by:** fanficfan1313 - I want one of them to be blind. In my mind for some reason I think it would be Regina but that would be totally up to you. And I want it to be like the one that's blind is weak or can't make it because they are blind... more like I want them to be strong about it and that's what makes the other fall in love with them. _Rest of the prompt omitted because SPOILERS!_

**Warnings/ Notes:** It's a blind AU, and no magic or anything. Also, the Nolans' apartment here is a teensy bit different than Mary Margaret's apartment in the show, mainly because WALLS, they are a crucial thing to have! So have the show's apartment as a base, but don't get confused when all of a sudden things have shifted or there are rooms where there were none before.

* * *

_"Why don't you come live here for a while? I know you hate the small town life, but maybe getting away from all that city rush and finding a job here wouldn't be the end of the world, right?"_

The words echoed around Emma's head as she sat on the Greyhound taking her to Storybrooke. She would've loved to have told her adopted sister that no way in hell was she going to join the humdrum small town life that she had abhorred since her early days in foster care, but right now it was either that or nothing. And she couldn't live with nothing. She was proud to the point of being hard-headed, but she knew well enough that some times, she had to get off her high horse and admit that right now, she was broke and needed help.

"Oh look at the trees, the fall colours are truly impressive in Maine!" Emma's seat companion, an old lady from the sound of it, was once more trying to make conversation with her. She had tried to make small talk throughout the ride, and Emma just gave noncommittal answers and grunts, hoping the older lady would get the hint that she wasn't in the conversational mood. She didn't.

"Yeah... beautiful."

The bus didn't actually go all the way to Storybrooke, but rather to a town nearby. That's how small Storybrooke was. It was so microscopic that a bus wouldn't even dare to come near it. That's why now, after an agonizing 6 hour ride, she had grabbed her backpack and suitcase with the help of the driver, and was waiting by a small bus station in what she heard was picturesque Sunnydale, Maine.

"Emma!" She turned her head to the source of the voice, recognizing it instantly.

"David! How are you?" She flashed a smile and next thing she knew she was getting hugged tightly by her sister's husband.

"Just fine. Mary Margaret has been practically counting down the days until came. She didn't even sleep last night." David let out an easy laugh, loosening his grip after a couple of moments.

Emma laughed with him, "She always gets so over-excited over the smallest things."

The laughter died down, and Emma noticed a shift in his tone. "Well this isn't exactly a small happening Emma, it _has_ been 5 years."

She quieted down at that. She'd never been good with keeping in touch with people, and although Mary Margaret was the one person in the entire world that she loved unconditionally and would go to the ends of the earth for, she had been reluctant to visit her sister after their last meeting.

At the awkward silence, David cleared his throat and went to grab her things. "Here, let me grab this huge luggage from you and we can get going. If we take too long Mary Margaret will come drag you to Storybrooke herself."

For once Emma let herself be helped, and hooked an arm around David's offered one as they went to his truck. In 10 minutes they were out on the road, Emma enjoying the brisk autumn Maine air that was caressing her face coming in from the open windows of the truck.

* * *

"Well, here we are."

Emma was dragged away from her daydreaming lull on the way into town by David's voice. "Already?"

"It has been half an hour Emma."

She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I just kinda dozed off for a bit."

"Now come on, Mary Margaret will have my head if you're not in the house in 5 minutes."

Emma stretched her body, getting rid of all the kinks from sitting for so long. "Alright alright, I'm going."

Both of them got out of the truck, Emma making sure to grab her trusty stick. They went to the back of the truck where her belongings were stored.

"Actually, why don't you go right in, I'll take the stuff inside." David said, after a moment's thought.

Emma raised an eyebrow. "I get the feeling this is part of a plot or something, but I'll go with it; I don't fancy having to take up my stuff up the stairs. Second floor, right?"

"Yep. Need any help getting inside?"

Emma laughed and held up her stick. "I've got it David."

She turned around and made her way to the building's door. Finding the staircase railing had been simple, so she started to climb, each step heavier than the last as she steeled her nerves. 2 minutes later and Emma was standing in front of the apartment door. She raised her hand, and knocked firmly.

Not even 3 seconds went by, making Emma wonder if Mary Margaret had been waiting directly on the other side of the door, and she heard it swing wide open. "Emma!"

Next thing she knew, she felt the air running out of her lungs as she was hugged tightly. "Mar, air!"

"Oh right!" Mary Margaret seemed to have noticed the strength of her hug and backed off. "Sorry, it's just been so long though."

"Yeah." Emma looked down, scuffing her boots together. "5 years."

"Mommy, who is this?" A little voice piped up, making Emma look up with wide eyes.

Mary Margaret replied, "James, meet your Aunt Emma."

"Cool!" Once more Emma was engulfed in a hug, but this time it seemed that the kid barely reached her waist.

"Hey James, nice to meet you." She returned the hug briefly, before ruffling the boy's hair.

"No touchie hair!" Emma could just see the pout in the little boy's voice as he backed off and presumably also made to comb his hair back with his fingers.

Her sister meanwhile, was laughing. "Sorry Emma, he's a little bit sensitive about his 'do, but anyway come on inside!"

"Wait for me!" David had appeared, climbing the stairs with her backpack and luggage in tow.

"Need any help?" Emma asked, turning to the sound of the voice.

"Nah, don't worry about it, just get inside and Mar will hold the door open for me."

"You can go sit on the couch. It's inside to your right."

Emma followed the instruction and went inside. She found her way to the couch with little difficulty, bypassing a table on her way. And by bypassing she meant she walked right into it, hard. But she patted herself on the back mentally for not having sworn in front of the kid as she was wont to do.

"So Emma! How have you been?" Emma felt the sofa sink just the slightest bit as her sister sat down beside her.

"Pretty good, or as good as a girl without a job can be."

"Right well, tomorrow we can check over the classifieds section of the paper and see who's hiring, what do you think?"

Emma smiled and nodded. "Sure."

"Now, as for your room, we have the loft available, but the stairs are kinda rickety, so you can try negotiating with James to see if he's willing to trade you his room. Fair warning though, you'll have to do a favour for him if you want him to even consider it."

"Nah, I can take the loft. I wouldn't want to impose."

Mary Margaret sighed. After a beat, she said, "Emma, how many times do I have to tell you, you're not imposing. You're my sister, you're family! You'd never be imposing."

"Making your kid move out of the room he's had for 5 years just to accommodate his bum aunt for who knows how long seems like a pretty annoying imposition Mar."

"Emma..."

"It's okay Mar, I'm good with taking the loft, _really_."

Mary Margaret knew it was futile to argue with Emma. Even less so when she knew that the number one reason for her worry and reluctance to having Emma take the loft room was that she might fall and hurt herself. But she knew that if she voiced that Emma would tear her a new one and leave for who knows how long now. "Alright, then at least let me help you unpack, and then James can give you a tour of the place while I make dinner, sounds good?"

"Perfect." Emma grinned.

* * *

Emma couldn't sleep. She had tried to fall asleep countless times, but each time was unsuccessful.

"_3:16 AM._" Her phone read. Wonderful, she was going to be a zombie when she woke up in the morning.

She always felt the night time to be her element. It was here that she felt like everyone else. At this time everyone was dazed and fumbling around wildly and crashing into things. It was a bit of a morbid and cruel thought, but Emma still thought about it often.

Her thoughts wandered and drifted into the philosophical and deep questions when her insomnia attacked. Tonight's topic seemed to be her life thus far.

She had never had parents. Having been abandoned on the side of the road when she was a newborn, Emma had grown accustomed to life only as a temporary resident in other people's homes. Her first few years had been pretty good; she had been adopted into a lovely family, until they discovered why she seemed unable to walk without crashing into something, and couldn't find objects once they had been taken from her and placed elsewhere. Then they had taken her back to the orphanage as if she was a defective product, and Emma was without a family once more.

From that point on Emma migrated all over the Eastern seaboard, jumping from home to home. She'd had good homes and bad homes, parents that had to give her up for reasons out of their control, and parents that she couldn't wait to get away from. By the time she was 16, Emma had been through enough and dreaded her next placement.

And then the Blanchards had come along. Leo Blanchard, along with his daughter Mary Margaret were ecstatic at the chance of adopting Emma. They accepted her as she was, and were more than glad to help her with anything she needed. Emma had flourished with the family, and with her new sister. Although Mary Margaret was 2 years older than her, the two hit it off as great friends, and she was ready to defend her new little sister and help her through obstacles.

By the time Emma had graduated high school, the big question was, what was she going to do? There weren't a lot of options available for her. Her only redeeming trait was that she had a fantastic memory. Like a photographic memory sans the photography part. There was an irony to it, but Emma loved her great memory nonetheless. So she went to University, studying English Literature while Mary Margaret went into Teaching. Once graduation had come around, the question she had tried to avoid came back and slammed into her like a 16-wheeler.

What in the world could a blind girl do with her life?

Emma never liked to admit that she was blind. Her blindness was seen by everyone as a weakness or a deficiency. No, she _refused_ to see it as such. When people started to coddle her for being blind, she would do the impossible - and sometimes dangerous - just to prove them wrong. She was reckless, and she was brash. More often than not it was what got her fired from jobs. The other times it was because she was seen as a token handicapped employee so the upper echelon of a company could feel good about filling their quota of minorities. What that meant was that she was a glorified trophy - barely there and given meagre tasks. She hated it when that happened.

So what could she do?

Emma had tried mostly everything. She had tried cooking, though that ship crashed and burned - literally on the burned - while in cooking school. She had tried to become a librarian, but the silence made her antsy. And with that were a myriad of other jobs. Call centre operator, cashier, musician, journalist, and her default, secretary. Being a secretary seemed to work pretty good for her, though the bosses left nothing to be wished for.

At 26, Emma was at a crossroads. Living in New York wasn't cheap, and she was stumped on what to do. So when the yearly call from Mary Margaret to wish her a happy birthday came around, her older sister insisted that she come live with her and her family.

Emma was forced to swallow her pride and accept defeat after two months of denial. She loved her sister, don't get her wrong, but things had changed.

It had started when Mary Margaret had graduated. She knew David, Mar's longtime boyfriend, was going to propose that night, and was ecstatic to know what would happen. As expected, her sister had said a resounding 'Yes!'

When the question came as to whether Emma was going to move in with them, Emma had been flabbergasted.

_"Why?"_

_"Emma, you're young! We can help take care of you!"_

_She scoffed. "Take care of me? Oh, so now what, I'm the pity case that needs to be mollycoddled?"_

_"You're not the pity case, and we're not mollycoddling you, we just don't want to see you get hurt and have no one around to help if something happens!"_

_"I'm not a frail little flower Mary Margaret! I can take care of myself and have taken care of myself for a long time!"_

_"I know you have! But you're my sister and you're all I have!" _

_Emma could tell from how her sister's voice wavered that she was ready to cry. Let her cry, Emma thought bitterly. Out loud she bit back, "That is so not true. You have your fiance and you're going to have a family. I'm not going to be the handicapped burden living in your house like an invalid."_

_"Emma, you're not an invalid!"_

_"And you're doing a bang up job of convincing me of that! I can live by myself."_

That had been 7 years ago. She had moved out the week after that argument. After Emma had graduated 2 years later, she still had her doting and overbearing sister a stone's throw away, coming to check up on her at ridiculous times, and she had tried to tell her as much.

_"Mar, seriously, haven't I proven to you that I can live on my own?"_

_"Yes Em, but it's winter time!"_

_"So? Were you expecting me to slip and fall on the ice?"_

_"No! I just thought you'd want company..."_

_Emma raised her eyebrows. "And what, you think I wouldn't want company in the summer?"_

_"I come to visit you in the summer!" was her sister's outrageous reply._

_"Yeah but then you just claim you were 'walking around the neighbourhood enjoying the weather' and now it's making sure I'm not lonely. Honestly sis, your excuses keep getting more elaborate and far-fetched. Why don't you just say why you're **really** here?"_

_Mary Margaret's voice quieted down as she recoiled in embarrassment, "Because you won't like the answer."_

_"Damn right I won't. You come to check up on me every other day Mar. It's like you're expecting me to keel over and forget how to function as a human at any day. It makes me feel like I'm sick, like I'm incompetent." She spat the words out like they were filth. _

_"Emma I never try to make you feel like that. I just worry about you, and since you're nearby I take the opportunity to check up on you."_

So she decided to pack up and head to New York without any warning, leaving a very confused and hurt Mary Margaret with her husband and one-year old son.

That had been the last time Mary Margaret saw her sister. They had kept in touch over the phone, but it was different. She could tell that her sister was itching to ask her about coming to visit every year, or to hunt her down herself, but Emma had made her point and her sister let her live in peace for those past 5 years.

Now Emma had no other choice other than swallow her pride, and allow her older sister to help her out.

She just had to hope that by the time morning came, she would at least be awake enough.

* * *

"So, is she totally blind?"

"Shh James, please don't ask your aunt that. She doesn't like being labelled as blind."

Emma decided she should make herself known before things got complicated. Making sure to do a lot of noise, she made her way to the kitchen. "Morning."

"Emma! Good morning. You... look like you haven't really slept much."

"That's because I haven't." She found the chairs by the kitchen island easily enough, and plopped down on one.

"We were just talking about you!" Little James piped up to her right.

"Oh really? What about?" Emma feigned dumb, turning to where she heard her nephew was.

It was Mary Margaret who intervened. "Nothing! Absolutely nothing."

Emma was sure that her sister was giving her son a very meaningful look that said 'one word and you're grounded.'

"_Right._ Well can you please pass me some coffee? I need my fix in order to kickstart my brain."

10 minutes later and breakfast had gone by silently until Mary Margaret sent James running to pack up for school.

Emma used this moment to round off on her sister. "You do know I'm _blind_, and not _deaf,_ right?"

"I know, but I was trying to explain to James that you couldn't see, and I didn't want you to get upset."

"Mar, my problem is that I just don't like it when people treat me differently because I'm blind. I'm not going to run off on you just for calling me blind. Neither am I going to throw a fit over it. Okay?"

She could hear the relief in her sister's voice as she responded with an "Okay."

"So, let's get cracking on those job ads huh?"

"Let's."

* * *

There were 10 job postings for jobs throughout Storybrooke. Up until Mary Margaret had to leave for school, they had gone through 3 of those ads. Afterwards, they had left the house, and Mary Margaret took her to the town's diner to introduce her to Ruby, an energetic young waitress that worked there.

"Well how about a job here?" Ruby offered after the two sisters explained that Emma was looking for a job. "It's not the most glamorous job in the world, but it's fun, if you know how to pirouette around the tables and can hold your own with 4 plates."

"Actually, that might be a bit hard..." Mary Margaret was trying to figure out how to word it.

"I'm blind." Emma blurted out, without any pretense.

Without missing a beat, Ruby replied. "Okay no pirouettes, don't worry Em, we'll find you a perfect job, and market you perfectly towards them. One of the perks of working here is that I know just what makes everyone tick, so there's no one in this town that can resist hiring you."

Emma grinned, "Great. There's like, 7 jobs I've yet to look at, want to help me?"

"Totally!" Ruby went to sit beside her new friend, taking the classifieds section in the paper.

Mary Margaret was stoked that her sister seemed to have bonded so well with her friend. "Well if you two are good, I'm going to leave for school."

"Yeah we're good. Bye sis, talk to you later." Emma smiled.

"Enjoy teaching the little twerps" Ruby sniggered.

"Oh come on they're not that bad," the young teacher admonished, playfully slapping Ruby's arm.

Once Mary Margaret had left, Ruby turned back to the paper. "Okay let's take a look at what we've got here."

"We've already looked at the library ones, the pawnshop, and the mechanic."

"Hmm, let's see. We've got a fitness instructor for the local community center..."

"Definitely not."

"Garbage duty for the fish and chips place?"

Emma made a disgusted face. "Seriously?"

"Oh here's one, secretary!" Ruby continued reading and then cleared her throat. "On second thought, better not."

"Why? I totally rock the whole secretary gig."

"You'd be working for the Mayor," Ruby grumbled.

"What's his damage?" Emma had yet to meet all of the people of the town, and since it was a small town, she guessed it wouldn't take her long to do so.

"_She_ is a piece of work. Like try to image your strictest boss, times it by two, and now put them in a mayor's chair. That's Mayor Mills in a nutshell."

"Sounds like she'd be a mission and a half to deal with, but right now, I'm not too picky. How do I go about charming her pants off?"

* * *

1 hour later and the two were headed to Town Hall, arms linked. Emma had changed her clothes, looking a bit more professional with a skirt and blazer, plus some makeup courtesy of Ruby.

After a few moments of silence, the brunette cleared her throat. "If you don't mind me asking, do you use a stick or a cane?"

"Kinda. I have one here, it's a collapsible faux wood stick, but I don't really like using it. It kind of yells 'look out blind person coming through' and I don't particularly like baring myself to the world in that way."

"Makes sense."

"How many steps?" Emma asked suddenly.

"What?" Ruby turned to face her new friend, curious eyes trying to figure out what the blonde meant.

Emma clarified. "How many steps from the door to her desk?"

Ruby thought for a moment. "Honestly I've never counted... Maybe ten?"

"Okay, should be easy enough." Sensing Ruby's question, she added. "I don't like going into an interview all 'Hi my name is Emma, I'm blind, please hire me', so my idea is to just go hand my resume and pretend to be able to see. It's not that hard, and I remember the layouts of places pretty easily."

After a few minutes, they finally reached the building. Ruby guided Emma up the stairs, and then left. The two had agreed to meet after the blonde was done. Emma took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"Come in," an icy voice responded.

Emma slowly pushed the door open, and walked inside.

"May I help you?" the woman sounded like she was already annoyed at having been interrupted, but Emma wasn't going to be deterred.

"Yes. My name is Emma, and I'm here for the secretary position you posted on the Storybrooke Mirror." Emma started walking, confidently counting her steps. Reaching 8, she began to be careful. At 10 she paused, and waited for a response.

"Very well, resume?"

Emma inched her way closer, holding out the paper. 4 steps later, her resume was snatched up. She lowered her hand, and waited, acting as if she was looking around the room.

"Well you seem to be experienced enough, and it's not as though I have a line of potential hires coming in, so congratulations Ms. Swan, you're hired." Emma then heard a chair scrape back, and heels walk across the carpeted floor. "Now follow me, I'll show you where things are. And take good care to remember everything, I absolutely abhor having to explain myself twice."

Emma just uttered a meek "Yes ma'am!" and followed the sound of the heels, taking care to count the steps and take note of the sounds for cues.

They had barely made it out of the office before Regina turned to the right and said, "As you probably already saw, this will be your desk. I am expecting you to keep it clean and organized, I don't like sloppiness, and you're the face of my office, the first thing they see, so make sure to keep it presentable."

For the next 20 minutes, Emma was introduced to the photocopier, the mail room, the break room, she met the heads of some of the ministries, and kept her charade up incredibly enough.

"Now, I expect you to be here tomorrow morning at 9am sharp. Do you have any questions?"

Emma shook her head and smiled. "None at all Madam Mayor, I'll see you tomorrow morning."

* * *

"You got the job?! Way to go Em!" Ruby clapped her on the back, getting Emma to stumble a bit with the force. "So how was the Evil Lair of the Mayor?"

Emma laughed, responding with, "It actually wasn't that bad. Okay, it seems everyone there is scared shitless of her, but apart from that, it was actually pretty good."

Ruby snorted at Emma's response. "Yeah I'll ask again after tomorrow and see how that goes."

Emma playfully shoved Ruby, using the waitress' voice to locate her. She made contact and Ruby yelped at the push. "Girl you pack quite a punch."

"Yes I do." Emma grinned. "Also, I was wondering if I could ask you a favour."

"Shoot."

"After we finished, and the Mayor had left, I went and took a picture of my desk, can you help me locate everything?" Emma fished the phone out of her bag.

"Sure, how..." Ruby wasn't too certain how to ask, so she left the question hanging, hoping Emma understood what she meant.

By way of answering, Emma just dragged the waitress over to one of the booth tables, and sat down at one side, with Ruby beside her. "Put the objects you see on the pictures out on the table, and I'll be able to handle the rest."

Ruby was impressed, the girl was definitely ingenious. So for the next half an hour, the two women sat side by side, Emma with an inquisitive look on her face as she reached out to grab a medley of various objects and trying to match them up to their desk counterparts, memorizing its position and approximate size.

By the time the diner bell rang, signifying a new customer had arrived, Ruby and Emma were deep in their visualization, and they didn't notice the young boy make his way over to them.

"Hi Ruby!"

Said woman jumped a mile, banging her knee on the table. "Holy sh-cow kid, you can't just sneak up on people!"

The young boy seemed to be giving Ruby a look as he replied, "But I wasn't sneaking! The bell rang when I came in. It's not my fault you were distracted!"

Emma snorted at the young boy's accusation. "He's right you know."

She could feel the glare Ruby had rounded off on her, before grumbling about siding with pipsqueaks as she got out of the booth. "So kid, pick a table and I'll be bringing you a hot cocoa over?"

"Sure!" Emma had thought that was the last she'd hear of the kid, but was surprised when she felt the booth's seat shift in weight. "Whatcha doing?"

Emma turned to where the kid's voice was heard. "Oh uhm, just playing a game."

"What kind of game?"

Although Emma didn't have that much experience with kids except from ages ago in foster homes, so she knew that once their questions started, they didn't stop until they were satisfied. "It's a memory game. I'm trying to memorize where everything is located in my desk so I don't make a fool of myself come tomorrow."

She heard a giggle. "You work at a diner table?"

Emma turned to the kid and made a face at him. "No silly, this is a simulation."

"What's that?"

From the little she could tell, this kid was young, but had an unparalleled curiosity. "It's makeshift, you're pretending something is real to prepare yourself."

"Right." From the tone of his response, the boy didn't understand a word that Emma had just said.

"Here you go Henry, one cup of cocoa for you." Ruby had returned, and deposited a mug on the table with a dull clunk, before she spoke again. "I need to go tend to some other tables so you guys can bond meanwhile."

Emma nodded and went back to her pretend desk table. She hadn't even thought to look into the table's drawers, or if there were any speed-dial labels on the phone. She just hoped tomorrow the Mayor wouldn't grill her to do complicated things.

"Why do you need to memorize it? Aren't you going to be there tomorrow?" The young boy, Henry, asked after taking a loud sip of his beverage.

Emma faltered about to grab the 'stapler'. She turned to the kid and bit her lip. After taking a deep breath, she said "I...I'm blind."

Silence engulfed them. The booth seat didn't shift, which meant Henry hadn't run away, but he didn't say anything, so Emma just turned back to her makeshift desk, but before long, she felt small arms hugging her.

Although surprising, Emma returned the hug with an arm, smiling. Once they broke apart, she heard "Sorry I didn't know. But it's a pretty cool idea you have. Do you use touch to see then?"

Emma chuckled. This kid was alright, understanding and compassionate. His parents must've raised him right. "That and sounds."

"Cool!" She had to smile at the kid's enthusiasm for something that usually angered Emma eternally. She wished she could see, and although she had long accepted and settled with the fact she'd never see, she had her system to make the most of the world and to not let her blindness take away from enjoying life. "So how do you know what a person looks like?"

"Well, usually I don't, unless I know them well enough to ask them to touch their face. Then I just learn their face shape and visualize it in my mind every time they talk."

"Cool! Can you do my face?"

Emma did a double take. People didn't usually ask to be visualized, she just hoped that the kid's parents wouldn't walk in to see a strange woman with her hands all over their child's face. "I don't know kid..."

"Please?" Hands were on her arm, and she could just imagine the pout forming.

"Very well. But let me know if it gets too weird, okay?"

"Okay!"

So Emma turned a bit in her seat to face the young boy. He laughed as she traced his face, and the smile on her own face was wider than it'd been in years. He had smooth hair, getting a bit long as some of it was spilling onto his eyes, almond shaped. He had a cute nose, dimples, big ears, and a round chin. "All done!"

"That tickled!" he exclaimed.

"So what are you two up to?" Ruby had returned, standing at the foot of the table.

"She was tracing my face to see how I looked like!"

"Oh really? I'll have to ask her to do me next!"

"Yeah it's fun! But it tickles."

Ruby let out a laugh, and then grew serious as she said, "Okay Henry, you should probably head to your mom before it gets late and she gets worried."

"Oh yeah! It was nice to meet you!" Emma felt a tight hug on her, and she smiled as she hugged back.

"You too, Henry."

Soon he broke apart and ran out, door bell jingling and the door slamming.

"He was a nice kid." Emma said, feeling the seat dip once more as her new friend sat down.

"Yeah, Henry's a little charmer alright, just 8 years old and the cutest thing you'll see...er, meet." Ruby corrected, noticing her poor choice of words.

Emma just shook it off. "Don't worry, I know what you mean."

"So, I wasn't kidding about that face trace, I want to see what all the entertainment's about, the kid looked like he was having a ball."

Emma just poised herself again, raising her arms with her fingers curved, tips ready. "It's pretty simple, though let me know if it gets weird."

Ruby laughed. "You have an entire warning schpiel worked out don't you?"

She smiled and shrugged in return. "Yeah well, I learnt as a kid many years ago that people don't like getting their faces touched without their permission, so I'm on the cautious side."

"Got it. Well take it away Em."

And so Emma did, noting that the bone structure for the waitress was more jagged, high cheekbones and prominently pointy chin. She felt the long soft hair, thin nose, short ears and the mouth upturned into a smirk, accompanied by plush lips. "There you go!"

"I can see the entertainment, it was fun!" Ruby responded as Emma retracted her hands. "And now you can say you've bonded with your boss' son which-"

"What?!" Emma spluttered, her eyes widening. "Are you telling me cute little Henry is the son of my intimidating boss? The Mayor's kid knows I'm blind, despite the fact that the entire point was to _not_ let her know right away that I was blind?!"

She could just note the grimace and apologetic smile as Ruby said, "Right, true, hadn't thought about that."

"'Hadn't thought'...Ruby why didn't you _tell me_?" Emma was panicking.

"How was I supposed to let you know? 'Henry meet Emma, she's your mom's new employee! But don't tell your mom that she's blind, it's a secret'?"

Emma groaned. "At least he doesn't know my name."

* * *

"So how was your day, Henry?" Regina asked, looking over to where her son was seated as they ate dinner.

"It was okay, but the coolest thing happened after school!" Henry said, eyes shining with excitement.

"Oh? What was it?" She could never have enough of her son's contagious wonder. It made her bland days filled with incompetence guaranteed to have some happiness in her life. Adopting him had to be one of the best decisions she had ever made.

"I met a blind person today!"

Regina's face scrunched up in confusion. She wasn't aware there were any blind people in Storybrooke, though old man Barry could qualify, seeing as the man constantly confuses one of the light posts on Main Street for his wife Petunia. "Is that so? Were you kind to them?"

"Duh mom, of course. But she was really cool, she was doing a sim...simu...a pretend game trying to see things on her desk by feeling them!"

Regina smiled at her son, figuring out the word. "A simulation?"

"Yeah! She was funny. She even traced my face!"

Her eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Traced?"

"Mhmm! Since she can't see, she uses touch and sounds to see, so she traced my face with her hands to find out how my face looked like."

"I see, and where did you meet her, Henry?" Her alarm bells weren't ringing quite yet, but her curiosity was to try and gain more information about this meeting to assure herself it wasn't anyone weird, though she didn't want to panic quite yet. She was fiercely protective of her child, but she didn't want to make it too obvious.

"At the diner, she's friends with Ruby and they were sitting together playing their game."

Well that was alright, she supposed. Ruby was trustworthy, despite her more questionable attire sometimes, but she knew the waitress was protective of her son. "Well I'll have to meet her sometime then."

"Yeah! Maybe she'll be there tomorrow!"

* * *

At 9:01 am Emma was spilling through the doorway to the Mayor's office and towards her desk.

"Ah Ms. Swan, you're here, and a minute late." Regina said, coming to stand at her doorway, which had been open so she saw her new assistant barging in.

"Sorry Madam Mayor, it was a bit of a rush to get here."

"Ms. Swan, I didn't hire you to make up excuses, but rather to be efficient. So how about you start making yourself useful?" Regina's heels told Emma was was walking her way towards her, and a stack of papers fluttered, meaning she was about to get a load of work to do. "I need this agenda to be photocopied 20 times and in time for my town meeting at 10, so if I were you, I'd get going."

Emma heard the papers as they were obviously held out, the heels coming to a stop a little distance from her. She reached her hand out and made contact with the stack of papers. "Sure thing, I will get these to you right away, Mayor Mills."

Regina turned around without sparing the blonde another glance. "I'd hope so, that's why you were hired."

Emma ground her teeth. Prickly lady she was. How in the world could she have raised such a sweet kid while being the incarnation of a bitchy lady?

But Emma wasn't about to complain, not out loud at least, and made her way to the photocopy room. She took out her cellphone and said, "Camera"

A bleep was heard as the phone complied to her spoken request. Since Emma couldn't see, she had activated the accessibility function on her phone which allowed for spoken prompts to guide her phone to do things for her. She held the phone to an approximate distance from the pieces of paper in her hand, and tapped the screen. She heard the shutter click and grinned. Sometimes technology was amazing.

"Send to: Ruby." Another bleep rang out, signifying that the request was completed. "Call Ruby."

She heard the call was made and put the phone up to her ear to talk.

"Wow that was quick, did she grill you for existing?"

"Pretty much, I was _one minute_ late Rubes, and she got on my case. But anyway, I got photocopying duty, I sent you a picture, can you check to see if I'm holding the papers right side up?"

"Yeah, give me a sec." Emma waited in line while Ruby checked the picture. "You there?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, you're holding them upside down, so do a 180 and you'll be golden. How many pages did she give you?"

"I think there's 5 pages here. It's for a meeting, I'd hate to have to attend one of those."

"You and me both."

"Okay, I'll call you in a bit to make sure that I staple the photocopies properly, 'cause some copiers spew them out in any which direction."

Ruby laughed as she responded. "Don't worry Em. Oh you should probably let me check the photocopier control panel, otherwise you'll end up printing out creepy memos from 5 years ago or something equally ridiculous."

Emma smiled, "Right, good point. Call you in a bit."

2 minutes later and they were talking again, Emma having just sent a new picture.

"Okay, you got your hand on the controls?"

Emma responded in the affirmative, and they got to work on figuring out the controls. 10 minutes later and Emma was making copies of the first page. "Now I just have 45 minutes to make 20 copies of some 4 pages more. I'm gonna send the first page so you can check the direction"

"Have fun! And sure send it my way" They hung up again, and Emma did just that. After confirming it came out the right way, Emma set to work.

* * *

"Ms. Swan, I hope cutting it close isn't a habit with you, because right now, I'm not impressed. I have 5 minutes to head over to get ready for the meeting that I should have been already at, 10 minutes ago." She said as she saw her new assistant come through the door carrying the stack of papers and looking completely discombobulated. She was not happy, and made her way to where the blonde was.

"Sorry about that Madam Mayor. Here are the copies you requested." Emma held out the stack in front of her.

"Thank you. Now go to your desk and do the rest of your duties. I left a memo on your desk with what I want you to do. Once I return from my meeting in a few hours I'll let you know what new tasks I have." Regina saw the young woman make her way to her desk, and she left the office, heading downstairs to where the meeting hall was.

"Thank you everyone for waiting, and sorry for the delay, there was a pressing issue I had to take care of." Regina, always big on entrances, entered the hall with a flourish, making her way to where the big table where everyone was already seated at. She settled down at the head of the table, passing the stack of agendas around.

"Now, I've passed out the agenda for this meeting, I've stapled it along with a few potential newsletter topics and designs, as well as some memos that a few departments wish to communicate... yes Mr. Collin, what seems to be the problem?"

Said man lowered the hand he had raised meekly, and cleared his throat. "I think there's a few pages missing Madam Mayor. Specifically the back pages. Because you go from page 1 to 3..."

Regina drowned out the rest the man said as she grabbed a package from the nearest man and saw that Collin was right. Oh she was going to give that soon to be ex-secretary of hers a piece of her mind.

* * *

Emma was feeling pretty good about herself. She had managed to get her first assignment done, and despite taking a long time - that darn stapler had something against her, she was sure of it - she felt that she would be able to excel here, at least for the time being. She'd also gotten a head start on the new tasks as well, having gotten Ruby to relay the instructions written to her.

All of those good thoughts flew right out of her mind and into the trash the minute she heard the door slam open. "What the hell kind of secretary do you pretend to be? Are you blind?"

"Yes." Emma had stood up lightning fast the minute the door slammed open, and now she stood stock still after having uttered the syllable, wondering how she found out. Did Henry connect the dots and somehow let her know?

"Wait what?" The rage that had been there a few seconds ago disappeared, replaced by complete and utter confusion.

Emma faltered. "You asked..."

She heard the Mayor walk up to the desk. "I was asking because you completely failed to photocopy the backs of every single page in the booklet, Ms. Swan."

Emma blanched. She had completely forgotten to check if it was double sided. "I'm sorry Mayor Mills, I-"

"Stop." Emma shut up with the command, hands itching to fidget. "Why didn't you mention you were blind?"

She didn't miss the change of tone, the sudden softness in the Mayor's voice. "I-I don't exactly like advertising it. It either leads me to not getting a job, or being treated like an invalid, and I really need the money so I just pretend to see."

It was silent for a few moments before the Mayor asked, "Well I would've preferred to have known about it beforehand, that way I could've given you more clear instructions. I am curious though... you didn't use a cane, how did you know..."

"Where your desk was and everything? Ruby accompanied me, and then gave me approximate step counts. And today well, I have a good memory, I can remember layouts pretty easily. I use touch and sounds to locate and identify everything. Though I do have a cane I use when I'm not pretending."

It was then that Regina connected the dots. "Did you by any chance meet a young boy yesterday? Henry?"

Emma smiled and nodded. "Yeah, he's a cute kid, you did a great job raising him." Ruby had explained to her later that there was no Mr. Mills, and that Regina was a single mother that had adopted the young boy.

Regina accepted the compliment with her own smile, until she realized that Emma couldn't see it. "Thank you...and I do apologize for having yelled at you."

"It's okay, you didn't know." After a beat, Emma asked, "So does that mean I'm not fired?"

"No dear, you're very much still employed. Henry mentioned yesterday that you were attempting to simulate your desk?" She had no idea why she was striking up a conversation with the blonde, she was planning on chewing the woman out and kick her to the curb, but now with the discovery, she found herself not only keeping the woman employed, but also conversing with her. She seemed kind and enthusiastic, she could see why Henry was so ecstatic about meeting her. It was easy to talk to her.

"Yeah. I didn't want to look like a complete idiot by not being able to locate anything around my desk if you happened to come in and ask for something. I was eventually going to tell you I was blind, but usually I wait a week or so, so that my boss can see I don't need to be coddled, and can hold my own. Obviously I hadn't thought double-sided sheets would rat me out."

Regina chuckled. "I'm impressed, you could've fooled me, and I'm usually an expert at sniffing out deception."

"I have no doubt about that, Madam Mayor."

"Please, Ms. Swan. Regina is fine."

Emma's smile was vibrant as she shuffled her feet. "Okay _Regina,_ only if you drop the Ms. Swan and call me Emma. And anyway, I have no doubt you're a pro bullshit finder, but I have many years under my belt at fooling the best into thinking I can see."

"Is finding a job that hard?" Regina was genuinely curious as she asked.

"Finding it, no, getting employed though, and then keeping it? Hard as hell. Some of them I just quit, bosses have never been that great."

She heard Regina make her way around the desk to stand to the left of where she was. She pivoted and swore she heard the smirk behind the question "So on a scale of 1 to 10, how bad of a boss am I?"

Emma gave a sheepish smile as she replied, "0? You're a great boss, wonderful really."

And then Regina laughed, a truly wonderful and melodic laugh; Emma would've paid buckets of gold to get her to laugh like that again. "Was that before or after I let you keep your job despite your fantastic bungle?"

Emma pouted, "Oh come on, I feel like I'm playing with fire here, I'm just a simple girl trying to keep my job. Can't I just give you a mug that says '#1 boss' and we can call it a day?"

Regina once more chuckle and respond with "Very well, I will accept a mug as a response. Now, have you already eaten lunch?"

Emma made a mental note to find some kind of custom coffee mug maker within this small town that could help her out. Out loud she said, "Not yet, I was waiting till you got back so if you wanted me to run any more errands, or needed me to get lunch for you, I'd only have to make one trip."

"Well thank you, that'd be wonderful."

After Regina relayed her order and Emma had left, she got to thinking about the blind blonde in front of her. Her hat was off to the younger woman for being so determined to not let her blindness deter her from having a successful life. It was the kind of determination she had from trying to get away from her mother's shadow, so she understood trying to prove something not only to the world, but themselves too. She found herself wanting to get to know the blonde so much more, and wondered how she'd go about it.

* * *

Emma was sitting at her desk, while Regina was talking with this snobby businessman that had come in an hour ago. Emma didn't know why, but she had developed a streak of anger at hearing the self-righteous man practically demand audience with Regina and then while he waited, questioning her.

They hadn't even managed to talk after Emma left to get lunch, because by the time she got back, Regina had a few people waiting to see her, so Emma just quickly deposited the lunch on her boss' desk with a smile that she hoped Regina saw, and went back to her desk to orderly mark the people who were here and tell them to be patient and to wait.

Meanwhile inside the Mayor's office, Regina was trying to not tear Spencer to pieces. He was requesting a form from her and she filled it quietly, wanting to be rid of him as soon as she could, 20 minutes was just too much to deal with scum like him. She could feel his smug face looking at her as she wrote, and desperately wished she could punch the bastard.

"Your new secretary lady is a weird one." Spencer suddenly said.

Regina looked up, mouth setting into a grimace. The repulsive man had been outside her office for the past 40 minutes, he better not have offended Emma. But for now she'd play the part of the fool. "Oh?"

"Yeah. She was making holes on a sheet for no reason. Every time I tried to ask, she'd just say, 'please be patient sir, Mayor Mills will be with you shortly' like she was some kind of goddamn robot or broken tape recorder. Seriously, perhaps you should've hired someone with a brain."

The vein on her forehead was probably protruding by now. "Mr. Spencer, if you want _me_ to do something _for you_, especially something as a personal favour instead of waiting the required weeks like any other citizen in this town, you should perhaps _avoid_ trying to question my staff or my hiring abilities. So kindly shut up, or wait somewhere else, because right now I'm tempted to tear this form to pieces and make you wait for it."

But Spencer wasn't deterred, his sitting posture still giving an air of superiority as he replied, "You're defending her? I heard what happened earlier, she forgot to photocopy the back sides of the pages. How can someone with at least half a brain fuck up so badly?"

Regina had had enough. "Out. _Now._"

"Now, Regina..."

"I don't care what you have to say. You will wait outside until I finish this, and if I find out you utter a peep at my secretary and I will go through with my threat and tear this to pieces."

She stood up and so did Spencer. They held a glaring contest for a few moments before he conceded and left her office.

* * *

"It's you! You work for my mom?" Emma raised her head at hearing the enthusiastic boy from yesterday exclaim as he bounded into the room.

"Yep, small world huh? By the way, I'm Emma." She suddenly heard the patter of feet run towards her desk, swerve it, and give her a tight hug.

"And I'm Henry! This is so cool! Does my mom know you're blind?"

And so Emma related the story with the photocopier to Henry, receiving a very amused laugh from the young boy by her side. "So kid, do you wait here until your mom is finished with work?"

"Yep, I usually work on homework while I'm here."

Emma smiled, "Well then I wouldn't want to face Regina's wrath if she saw I was distracting you from doing your homework."

The boy giggled and agreed, sitting down in the visitor's sofa, legs swinging slowly and thumping against the couch, as he worked on his assignments.

Suddenly the door opened, and Emma looked up, unsure who was coming out of Regina's office.

"You can take a seat on a chair Mr. Spencer." Emma heard Regina's voice from within the room. Clearly she'd had enough of the repulsive man and had kicked him out. Although she was glad the man was out of her Regina's office, she wasn't too keen on having to deal with him again.

"So, what is up with the poking holes? Is it some type of coping mechanism? Are you prone to mental breakdowns?"

Emma really didn't want to answer the man, so she just ground out, "Please sit down sir."

"Do you know who I am young lady? I can have you fired faster than you can tell me to sit down again. So if I were you, I'd mind my tongue."

"Leave her alone! She doesn't want to talk to you!" Henry had piped up, and Emma prayed the man wasn't the type that would hit a child just because he thought they were being insolent.

"Henry Mills, getting older by the day aren't you?" The jovial tone almost gave Emma whiplash, but she could note the undertones of malice.

"Yeah, I'm eight and a half." Emma's heart melted for the little boy, but she had her fist clenched as she stood, ready to pounce.

"Well Henry, you're still a child, so why don't you let me and this young lady talk without butting in on matters you don't understand?"

Emma could hear the man start to make his way to the young boy, so Emma quickly tried o make her way to step in front of Spencer and to protect Henry. However she clearly missed a ficus in her plan, and went tumbling down with a crash, taking the tall plant and vase with her.

"Emma!"

Suddenly the door opened again, and Regina was fuming. She had heard a commotion beginning outside, and opened the door just to witness Henry running to help Emma, who had fallen over a ficus plant, and Spencer standing with his air of superiority.

"Out!" Emma had at first thought Regina was speaking to her, but then the Mayor continued with, "You can look forward to receiving instructions on how to fill out your form in the mail, Mr. Spencer, so have a good day, and don't come here asking for favours _ever again_."

Although she wasn't on the receiving end of that, Emma still shuddered. Regina was a force to be reckoned with. But that only made her admire her more. And dare she say she was beginning to question what her feelings fore Regina actually were. She heard heels make their way over to where Henry was crouching beside her, and she heard fabric rustling. "Are you alright, dear?"

Emma cleared her throat, going to stand up. "Yeah, just fine. I forgotabout the ficus and just tripped on it."

Emma felt Regina grip her upper arm to help her stand up, and surprisingly enough, she didn't mind. "Henry can you untangle the ficus from Emma and set it straight?"

Henry made a noise of agreement and she felt the plant being moved away.

Once she was standing once more, Emma looked towards Regina. "Thanks. And sorry for interrupting you, I-"

"Don't apologize. The man is an idiot, and needed to be reminded of his place. Now, how about you call it an early day, Henry can show you around town for a bit, and then in a couple of hours, you join us for dinner at my house?"

Emma was ready to say no, that she shouldn't worry, but then she thought about the little boy beside her, who grabbed her hand, and she could bet that he was probably smiling goofily at her. "I'd love to. Are you sure you don't need my help?"

"It's quite alright, and if I need anything, we can always tackle it tomorrow."

After a few minutes, both Emma and Henry had left, with the boy talking nonstop about the town, people who lived there and what there was to do.

Regina turned back to the desk, and saw the piece of paper with holes in it. It was peculiar, with a ruler underneath it as if the holes were supposed to be orderly. It was then that Regina realized what she was looking at. Emma was writing things down in braille, but of course, she had to make the letters stand out somehow, so she poked a pen through the paper. She made a mental note to invest in supplies that could facilitate writing down notes in braille for her secretary.

* * *

"Thank you for dinner, it was lovely." Emma and Regina were sitting in the living room, Henry had gone up to his room to head to bed, and both women were sitting on the couch, each with a cup of coffee in their hands. Dinner had been a pleasant affair, Henry talking their ears off throughout the entire time. During that time, each woman was off in their own musings, wondering on the same thing. What did they feel for the other woman? Was it love?

"It's the least I could do for having to deal with Spencer. I'm sorry if he gave you a hard time today."

Emma shrugged it off. "It's okay, I've had to deal with guys a lot worse than him. To be honest I was more worried about what he'd do to Henry. That's why I was rushing, I heard him moving towards Henry."

Regina was shocked. Of course a few people in town had shown they cared about Henry and protected him, like Ruby, but Emma was putting her son before everything else.

"And that is why you deserve to be thanked. You put Henry's safety first, and I'm glad to see he gets along with you."

Emma just flashed an adorable smile that Regina wanted to see every day. "Yeah we really bonded yesterday."

Regina hummed in response. "Yes he told me about it, you traced his face, as he called it."

"Yeah, it's something I do." Emma shrugged, before continuing. "It helps me visualize someone's face. Of course I asked him for his permission first."

Regina doesn't know what or how, but something had possessed her long enough to ask, "Do you want to do mine?"

"W-what? Your face? I-if you don't mind, yeah it'd be cool..." Emma was trying to control her nerves. Regina Mills, the woman she was sure she had a crush on, was asking to have her face traced. She put her coffee down on table beside her, having noted it beforehand with her shin.

A similar clunk followed, meaning Regina had put her cup down as well. She felt the couch shift as Regina got closer, their knees touching.

"I know it's going to sound silly, but if you start feeling uncomfortable at any moment, just let me know and I'll stop."

Regina hummed as way of response, and Emma brought her hands to the other woman's face. Her hair was short, barely brushing past her shoulders, the eyes almond, like her son's eyes, and she wondered at the coincidence despite that they weren't biologically related. The nose wasn't too sharp, but with her cheekbones, it gave Emma a regal air about the woman. She might've been a queen in another life. Above her lip was a tiny scar, and as her thumb brushed over it, she decided she'd one day ask about it. As her hand made their way down Regina's cheeks, she felt her arms fold as the other woman brought their faces closer together. She could hardly believe that what she hoped would happen might actually come true.

And it did. Their lips connected and Emma smiled against the kiss, noting the other woman was also smiling. They moved in sync as they kissed, small moans escaping the back of their throats. Once they broke for air, Regina knew she must be as flushed as Emma looked.

"So, what would you prefer? #1 boss or #1 girlfriend?"

* * *

**And that was that!**

**I'm really sorry if it felt like I wasn't doing justice to the prompt, I had a bit of a block trying to make sure Emma's blindness was properly portrayed, while also not making it seem like I was skimping on the visual descriptors. Also, I didn't make Regina the blind person because I didn't realize until I had written a good chunk of the prompt that I completely missed that part. And I hoped it wasn't rushed.**

**So regarding the FTL version of this prompt, I have my doubts it'd fit into a drabble, plus I really want to expand on it and make it a full fic. So look out for it sometime! Probably more when my current fic list goes down.**

**Next thing, is opinions: I had originally been intending to leave Neighbours [drabble #1] as just a one-shot, but it seems a good number of people want it to be continued? I have no idea what the actual plot would consist of, but I'm sure I can think of something. If there's something I think I've proved is that I can come up with a shitton of plot ideas. So my question is, do people _really_ want Neighbours to be continued?**

**Also let me know what you thought about this drabble, and if you have any requests!**

**Next up to be updated is Things We've Lost, and then A Thief in the Night!**


	4. Of Fears and Costumes

**Hello everyone!**

**Okay so today is Halloween! Which means lots of candy, and spooky things! And here's my contribution to everything, a SQ Halloween drabble!**

**Hope everyone enjoys this!**

* * *

**Of Fears and Costumes**

_Comedy_

**Summary:** Regina really didn't want to be at this Halloween party. But her friend had dared her, and Regina never backed down for a dare. The fact that Regina was absolutely terrified of horror monsters didn't really help her as she made her way around the party.

**Prompted by:** no one! I just wanted to do something for SQHunt over at sq fan awards, so this was my contribution to it! It was based one of those AU ideas that are floating around tumblr. This one was: "Deep conversations and wow i wonder what you look like under that scary mask AU"

**Warnings/ Notes:** Uhhhm, I don't think it's scary, since honestly I'm not the type of person that like horror and all that jazz [I'm a big scaredy cat, I'm not even kidding] but it's a Halloween fic, so obviously there's going to be costumed people and they're going to be described but nothing gory or out of this world...unless someone's dressed up as ET, to which case it _is_ out of this world, but I digress. Oh and it's also a College AU...and no real magic.

* * *

Regina was going to kill her friend. She knew Regina never turned down a dare, and daring her to come to the 'Scariest Party on Campus' had been a conundrum ever since Tina offered it.

"Come on Gina, the point of the party is to move _away_ from the door!" Tina grabbed her hand and pulled her further in the busy house. Music was thumping all around them, some sort of mix of creepy music and dubstep, making for a frightening combo.

Looking around the foyer, she could see a lot of people were already there, wearing all manners of strange clothes and robes, not to mention scary masks. The usually composed and cool Regina Mills felt out of her element surrounded by the mass of costumed bodies.

"Now, try to have some fun? Plus isn't it about time you entered society and discovered the joys of Halloween?"

Regina rolled her eyes and grumbled, "I don't see what's so great about it, just an overly-commercialized event."

The petite blonde, dressed as a post-apocalyptic Tinkerbell, just smirked and drawled, "Sure. Whatever makes you sleep at night."

The brunette huffed and crossed her arms, calling the conversation to a close.

In less than 5 minutes, some friends of Tina's had already grabbed the blonde and whisked her away to another area of the party, leaving Regina alone.

Walking around, she found a quieter part of the house - though it was debatable if anywhere in the house could _truly_ be considered silent, seeing as every corner seemed to be filled with people and decorations - where she plopped down on the couch. This really wasn't her kind of scene.

It wasn't that Regina didn't like parties, she enjoyed the occasional one, but Halloween was the one time she couldn't stand being out and about. She owed that to her mother, since as a child, Regina had been easily scared, and her mother - the bitch - insisted on taunting her with her fears. If Regina came crying about monsters under her bed, Cora Mills would just smirk and say "well then try not to tease them dear. They do so enjoy eating scared children."

With that came hundreds of teases and frights over the years, leaving Regina closed-off and scared of Halloween, when everyone tried their best to scare people for a few laughs.

"Didn't think witches wore masks."

Regina turned to face the voice and nearly had an attack as a very realistic zombie stood before her. Regina tried her best to keep from screaming and kicking at the person before running away, instead just coolly responding, "And I didn't think zombies could make intelligent conversation."

"Touche." Without even asking, the zombie went and sat down beside her on the sofa.

Regina turned, affronted and ready to criticize their lack of manners, but felt her voice catch as she truly realized how realistic the costume looked. Ripped jeans and shirt with fake dry blood pooling around the lacerations, a battered hoodie added to the effect of making the zombie looking decrepit. What really sold it for Regina was the exposed skin. The hands, neck and face were this dull grey colour, and some parts looked like muscle and bones were showing with gunk making it look like skin was peeling off, it was really quite gruesome. Completing the look were the heavily shadowed eyes and matted hair.

"If you take a picture, it'll last longer." Regina looked up to meet vibrant green eyes looking back at her.

"It's an impressive costume."

"Thanks." The zombie, who Regina guessed was a woman seeing boobs and hearing a feminine voice, grinned at her before adding, "My friend is studying to be a Makeup Artist, so I sort of roped her into being the community makeup artist...she owed me for using me as her guinea pig for her projects."

Regina gave a slow nod. "Well she is very talented, clearly."

Zombie hummed in agreement. "So, the mask? Are you trying to be some _mysterious_ witch or you just didn't feel like going through too much effort for your costume and just put on whatever you could find?"

The brunette did go for a more casual costume, picking to wear a sleeveless short black dress, adding a red belt for colour, along with a charcoal wig and pointy witch's hat at Tina's insistence. The domino mask had been a last minute addition by Mallory, who was claiming she'd get a lot of mileage from Regina's costume, much to her chagrin. "My friend insisted on adding it."

"I see, and your friend now ditched you?"

Regina shook her head. "_That_ friend went to another party. But the friend I did come with got dragged off to hang out with her other friends."

"Rude!" Regina smiled. It was jarring seeing herself enjoying a conversation with a random zombie.

"It's alright, I'm not exactly offering much entertainment," she shrugged.

"Well, you're keeping me entertained, so tally one for you, Miss Witch," Zombie grinned, gently nudging Regina.

The brunette smirked, and then asked, "How about you? Your friends leave you alone to terrorize party goers?"

The zombie smirked and chuckled. "Somewhat. My friends are helping to prepare the scare-a-thon."

"Scare-a-thon?"

"Yeah, it's coming up in..." the zombie paused and looked at her phone, making Regina smile at the sight. "I guess half an hour or so. But I can't tell you what it is, that'd ruin the surprise, now wouldn't it?"

"And what if I don't like surprises?" Regina asked haughtily.

"Then you're probably not going to enjoy the scare-a-thon."

Regina found that hanging out with the zombie was actually quite enjoyable, and soon enough found herself engaged in a deep conversation with her. Despite the scary makeup, Zombie seemed actually quite adorable. With a smirk, Regina asked, "So what do you study when you're not part of the undead?"

"English Lit. How about you? What occupies your time when you're not off bewitching the masses?"

"Political Science," Regina replied, and added conspiratorially, "And what makes you think I'm bewitching anyone? I could be planning on poisoning everyone, or cursing them."

Zombie let out a hearty laugh, before saying, "Oh you're definitely bewitching, you've got one victim in front of you."

When had they begun flirting? Regina hadn't realized that despite her apprehension towards monsters, this one had gotten very close to her, so much that they were mere inches from each other. "Oh really? So you'll do _anything_ I'll tell you to?"

The zombie nodded, getting Regina to smirk wider. "Then kiss me."

She wasted no time, smiling as she put her hands on either side of Regina's face, and brought their faces closer together.

But before they could connect their lips, the lights went out.

"What the-"

"The scare-a-thon must be getting started! Gotta go!" Before Regina could even register what was happening, the figure beside her vaulted away from her, leaving Regina alone in complete darkness.

She'd be lying if she didn't say she was missing the zombie's company, and hadn't backed further into the couch, pulling her legs closer to herself. Regina was terribly embarrassed to admit that she was so afraid of something so silly. Monsters weren't real, and horror movies were fictional, so why couldn't her mind just accept it?

The brunette tried to ignore the sounds echoing around the house of people screaming in fright, and of distorted laughter. She hoped no one would find her, sinking her head onto her knees, trying to make herself seem smaller so she wouldn't be disturbed.

She had managed to stay hidden thus far, until she felt something - a hand probably - on her shoulder. Next thing she heard was this deep laughter that made the hairs on her neck stand on end.

"Come on" a distorted voice taunted her from her right, "don't tell us you're _scared_."

Regina refused to look up and see anything, but next thing she knew, the hand was removed from her shoulder, and after some whispers - someone was angry at Distorted Voice - she heard someone moving away, and the sofa dip in front of her.

As much gentler hands rested on her shoulders, she heard Zombie once again, "Hey it's okay, it's just me."

Regina never thought she'd be glad to see a zombie in front of her. In a truly uncharacteristic moment for Regina Mills, she uncurled and launched herself straight into Zombie's arms, burrowing in her chest.

Zombie meanwhile, leaned back to rest her back on the couch's arm, rubbing gentle circles onto Regina's back.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, every now and then she'd hear shuffling from behind her - Regina was facing the couch's back - but somehow Zombie got them to leave the two of them alone, probably because she was a part of the scare-a-thon.

"Hey, you okay?"

Regina looked up from where she had been resting her head in the crook of the zombie's shoulder, and saw those green eyes were looking at her curiously in the darkness. She nodded meekly, but couldn't find her voice to thank the other girl for coming to her aid.

Next thing she knew, Zombie was kissing her, and Regina ignored the sounds around them as she parted her lips and deepened the kiss.

* * *

When the lights came back on, both Regina and her human pillow were playing footsies - or as close to footsie as could be achieved wearing boots and heels - while lazily drawing circles with their hands on the other.

Regina felt her phone vibrate and sat up a bit to check the message, and sighed when she saw it was from Tina.

_Tina: Where are you?_

Before Regina could respond, she received another message.

_Tina: You ARE still at the party right?_

_Regina: Yes I am, I'll meet you by the foyer in a bit._

Regina put her phone away again, and looked back at those green eyes with a smile on her face. She sighed, "I have to leave."

"I'll walk you to the door."

The brunette shook her head. "Don't worry about it, you've done enough for me tonight."

Zombie pecked her lips and grinned, "Well then, let me do this last thing for you. Come on, I can help you navigate through the vomit and rolling eyeballs."

Regina chuckled, "You're not serious, are you? Someone actually barfed?"

"Well last year a few people peed their pants, so we were hoping we could step up the game a bit tonight."

"Sorry I took you away from it," Regina looked down, pulling herself away from the couch and the zombie's embrace.

When she felt someone gently latch their hand onto her wrist, she looked back up. "It was worth it."

Regina once more brought their faces together and they shared a kiss, ignoring her cell phone angrily buzzing as Tina probably demanded her presence insistently.

When they broke apart, Regina smirked. "So, do I get a name?"

Zombie winked at her, before saying, "Of course not, there'd be no fun in it otherwise. Besides, if you ever need me, just summon for me using your witchy powers and I shall appear."

Regina was ready snark back, but her phone was now constantly buzzing with new messages from her probably furious friend, so Regina just gave the zombie a final peck on the lips before parting a mischievous "We'll see."

* * *

"And you **didn't** get a name?" Tina exclaimed as Regina finished recounting her tale to both of her roommates.

"Nope, unfortunately not."

Mallory scoffed and said, "Well I hope you're planning on chasing that girl down."

"How? I can't exactly put up signs around campus saying, 'Searching for a green-eyed female zombie that helped to comfort this witch that was scared shitless during the scare-a-thon'," Regina retorted.

Tina thought for a moment before she came up with an idea. "No, but you can investigate. I don't imagine there are that many zombies that are friends with makeup artists, so we'll do process of elimination. Plus I know the organizer of the party, maybe she can help us."

* * *

As Tina and Regina went over to Lacey's house, Regina saw the aftermath of the party from last night. The whole place looked like a mess, and they had only seen the outside.

Ringing the doorbell, the two friends waited, until the door opened, revealing a blonde with thick black-rimmed glasses staring at them, holding a broom and a pan. "Let me guess, you guys lost something last night?"

"No, we're here to talk to Lacey, are you her?"

At the answer, the blonde gave Regina a look the brunette couldn't quite decipher before shaking her head. "Nope, not her, but I can go fetch her." Turning her head back into the house, the blonde yelled, "Yo Lace! Some people are here for you!"

The blonde left as a friendly brunette made her way to the door. Seeing Tina, her face broke out into a smile. "Hey girl! Everything okay?"

Tina quickly hugged the brunette before responding, "Yeah, everything's fine. My friend was actually looking for someone."

Lacey's face scrunched up in confusion. "Someone in the house?"

"From last night," Regina clarified.

"Gonna be a bit hard to find, considering I have no idea who was _actually_ here last night. Do you have a name or anything?"

"Not exactly, she was dressed as a zombie, said her friend was a makeup artist?"

Lacey mulled over Regina's description before shaking her head. "Doesn't call out anyone specific, but maybe Ruby can help you?"

Regina was beginning to get the feeling she was going to have to talk to everyone in the party before she found the zombie girl from last night. "And who is Ruby?"

"She might be the makeup artist friend mentioned, or she can at least know if other makeup artists were around."

It was worth a shot. Tina piped up, "Great, where can we find her?"

Lacey went to grab a piece of paper and a pen, and came back writing an address, before handing the sheet to them. "She's got classes 'till 4, so you might want to check after that."

"Great, thank you," Regina smiled.

Lacey flashed a smile in return, hugging goodbye to Tina.

"Well, it's a start," Tina said as they left the place.

* * *

"So who was that?" Emma asked when Lacey returned.

"Tina and this other girl, they were looking for someone."

"Oh yeah?" Emma feigned disinterest.

Lacey hummed before asking, "Weren't you dressed as a zombie last night?"

Emma just winked and went back to cleaning.

* * *

It was nearly 5 when Regina came to stand in front of Ruby's apartment door. This time she was accompanied by Mallory, since Tina had classes.

After knocking on the door, Regina felt a sense of deja-vu as the blonde from Lacey's house opened the door.

"If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were stalking me," the blonde smirked as she leaned against the door.

"I could say the same to you," Regina answered.

"Well, I live here, so that would be a strange situation for me to be in, don't you think?"

Regina raised an eyebrow, "Oh really? And earlier at Lacey's house?"

"I was helping her clean up. But I'm certain you didn't chase me across campus just to ask about little old me, so what are you here for? Door to door salespeople? Because if you are, me and my roommate are both broke as hell so we probably can't buy anything from you."

"Actually, we're looking for your roommate, Ruby?"

"Rubes! You've got visitors." It seemed the blonde's method of calling people to the door was through yelling.

Once more a brunette answered the blonde's calls, and the bespectacled girl left.

"Yeah, what's up?" Ruby seemed very laid back and chill, slowly chewing gum as she assessed the people standing in front of her.

"We're looking for someone..."

"Ah, Lacey mentioned you might be coming on by. So, you met someone at the party last night, and in true fairtytale fashion, you're chasing her around campus. Promise me that when you do find her, you'll do the cliche meet-and-twirl before kissing her. I'll pay to see it."

Regina was blushing a fabulous shade of red, left speechless by the brunette.

Thankfully Mallory took charge and looked expectantly at Ruby. "That's great and all, but first we need to find the chick, any idea where to find her?"

Ruby chewed on her gum thinking for a bit. "What was she dressed as?"

"A zombie," Regina offered, adding, "She also mentioned that you used her for your makeup projects."

"Oh!" Ruby got a mischievous smirk on her face. "I know exactly who you're talking about!"

Regina got excited, instantly asking, "Great! Where can I find her?"

"She also told me I wasn't allowed to tell you who she was, apparently she wants to tease you. But she did allow me to give you her phone number."

Regina was ready to throw something. If she hadn't been so determined to find the zombie girl that had kept her company, having taken the mystery as a dare to solve it, she'd have probably given up. But she took the number and quickly left the apartment.

* * *

_Regina: You're making this complicated on purpose, aren't you?_

_Zombie: Of course! Otherwise, what would be the fun in just telling you?_

_Regina: Well for starters, you get to kiss me, something you were quite happy to do so last night_

_Zombie: True, or maybe I'll just come in the dark of night and steal a kiss from you ;)_

_Regina: Oh no you don't. If you want another kiss from me, I have to see your face_

_Zombie: Bummer, you really know how to kill my ideas..._

_Zombie: So did you go around the entire campus searching for clues?_

_Regina: No, your friend Ruby and her friend Lacey helped me out_

_Zombie: Wow, you're really serious about finding me :D_

_Regina: Didn't I say as much last night?_

_Zombie: Dunno babe, I was just too enthralled to notice_

_Regina: Babe?_

_Zombie:...not the nickname type?_

_Regina: Depends who says the nickname_

_Zombie: Well there's not much else I can call you, is there? Unless you want me to call you Witch the entire time?_

_Regina: Well you're currently Zombie on my contact list_

_Zombie: Ouch, that just wounds me_

_Regina: You could always give me your name..._

_Zombie: Nice try babe, but you're going to have to be more subtle than that_

_Regina: Oh I will find out who you are somehow_

_Zombie: You could just always use your powers and find me, or call me to you_

_Regina: Powers only work on Halloween, so no luck for me_

_Zombie: You sure?_

* * *

Regina looked up from her phone, rolling her eyes at the zombie's goofiness. She was sitting at the library, trying to work on her homework, but felt too distracted by the texts to focus.

"3 times in one day, are you _sure_ you're not stalking me?"

Regina saw the blonde that had answered the door for her twice before that day standing before her, and Regina resisted rolling her eyes. "This time I _know_ I should be asking you that."

The bespectacled girl sat down on the coffee table in front of the armchair Regina was comfortably lounging on. "Well I work here, so I have my alibi."

Regina rolled her eyes. "Seems like you and I are meant to cross paths today."

"Seems like it. I'm Emma." The blonde held out her hand with a lopsided smirk.

"Regina."

"So _Regina_, who exactly were you so determined to find earlier today that we managed to cross paths twice?"

"Someone I met at Lacey's party yesterday."

"Didn't get a name or anything?"

"If I did have any concrete information, I wouldn't exactly be searching for her, now would I?"

Emma shrugged, "I don't know, how many zombie girls studying English Lit that spent hours talking to and then cuddling with a gorgeous witch studying Political Science do you know?"

It took a beat for Regina to fully comprehend what she had heard. She hadn't mentioned any programs of study, and then the looks she had received throughout the entire day were suddenly explained. She looked up and saw Emma smirking.

"Your face is priceless right now, just so you know."

Regina chuckled, "Just kiss me."

"Gladly."

* * *

**Wooo! Mystery solved! Regina gets the girl!**

**As always, I'm totally accepting prompts if people want!**

**As for my stories, I'll be updating the Kissing Booth next, and then Welcome to Storybrooke!**

**Let me know what you thought of this, and Happy Halloween!**


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